Wind Blows, Water Burns
by Kaya DC Pandora
Summary: CH14 now up! Raziel and Rhapsody emerge in Nosgoth during the Defiance timeline. More development of the relationship between the characters as they journey toward the Pillars. Please R&R, favours shall be returned.
1. Default Chapter

_The fantastic tale of one girl's journey into her playstation- her life is changed forever. _ I reached and slammed my bedroom door. "Shut your face you BASTARDS!" I screamed at my cousins. They squealed, kicking at my glass door. I noticed a large crack in the side. "BUGGER OFF!" Yeah. Being 16 sucked. Chances were that Mum would kill me later for this, but I could take that. Fixing the bottoms of my 'baggies' I pressed the 'on' button on my playstation. I felt a strange hot sensation… 

FLASH 

I landed, sprawled out on the ground. Considerable muddy ground. Above me loomed a huge towering building with…Nosgothic clan symbols on its door posts. 

"No way.." I murmured. I only hoped to find Raziel before the vampires found me. 

Naturally, I removed a spear from the wall, readying for an attack. I was luckily prepared. Two fledglings leapt out at me. Ducking from a blow, I jumped backwards, impaling one of them. A shimmering soul rose above its corpse. That was no use to me. The other avoided the blade, growling. It bore it's bloodstained fangs at me. I wasn't stupid. I wouldn't fall to my knees begging for mercy. I wondered. If I died here, would I be transported back to my own world? Lost in my thoughts, the fledgling clawed me in the arm. I recoiled, jabbing at it. It's cleaved flesh began to close. Almost automatically, I pulled my bottle of water from my pocket, ripping off the cap and covering the fledgling in the liquid. It recoiled in agony. It's skin seethed, burning as if touched by concentrated nitric acid. I was aware of another being somewhere nearby, but now that wasn't my problem. I kicked the fledgling hard and impaled it, nailing it's corpse to the ground. 

The 'figure' darting forwards, just as the soul sank to the spectral realm. Cursing, the figure turned to me. 

"Do not attempt to fight. You will not be harmed" it instructed. Raziel… 

"Raziel…?" I asked and smiled. A familiar 'face'…what was left of his face. I saw the hurt in his eyes…his battered, burned body…I knew what had caused that pain…I knew what lay beneath the cloth.. 

Raziel surveyed me. I dropped the spear. I knew how well Raziel fought. Only an idiot would have taken him on. "I'm sorry…" I apologized. "You have to feed." He shook his head. 

"I do not need your blood, child" he said sharply. 

"I know" I nodded I sounded so stupid.. Raziel hesitated. What had I done? He brought a claw to his cowl and seemed to think better of it. "What's wrong?" I asked. I knew. He didn't want me.. a human- a female that could take on two vampires at one time to see his…disfiguration. 

"No. I can wait" he decided. 

"Raziel.." I began. I pitied him. "I know what you're hiding" He recoiled. 

"How would you?" he asked , almost growling. 

"I know these things…I'm sorry but.. I know everything. You're wings… the Lake of the Dead…your betrayal by Kain. Dumah and Turel.. I dunno how I got here but…I wanna help you" I forced smile. 

"You have no idea what I went through!" he snarled. 

"Your right. I don't" I admitted and held out a hand "I'm Rhapsody" he took it and shook. 

"Raziel, but I think you know that already.. I don't want to know how you know." He seemed to welcome the help at least. I don't know what I would have done in his position. 

Raziel became considerably more friendly. "I never saw myself like this before.." he admitted. I wasn't sure if he was referring to being with me or his looks… "Death would have been a release from this travesty…I…I am destroyed." I had to fight to resist bursting into tears. He seemed so miserable. Travesty (?) .. I rapidly changed the subject. 

"So…do you think I was any good with the fledglings?" I asked. 

"You fight better than any other human I have ever seen take on a vampire. Your knowledge is unsurpassed….however.. you should never let them see your blood. There's no other human like you" 

"Thanks" I grinned. Wow. Raziel liked me. 

Hours passed. Suddenly, Raziel groped for a wall, panting, body racked by small convulsions. 

"Raziel!" I cried, running to help him. 

"I- I have…. to feed…" he said pleadingly. I nodded, trusting him not to remove all my soul. I caught a glimpse of his…disfiguration and passed out. 

"What happened??" I murmured, looking up. Raziel was carrying me… I have to admit. It was sort of…cute. I moved one leg, making sure it was still functional. He glanced down at me. I grinned, feeling he would have grinned back if it had been physically possible…. Raziel didn't answer. I figured out for myself later that he had taken up my earlier offer for some of my soul. He put me down, helping me to my feet. I glanced into his glowing eyes, smirking. "Thanks" 

"Where are you from? I've never seen another like you?" he asked. Raziel's voice was so smooth. I loved it. The way it flowed with such nobility…force and almost.. delicacy. I would have listened to him talk all day if I had the chance. I knew he was too busy to sustain my school-girl fantasies. He was on a quest for revenge. He had better things to do. The only reason he had recruited me in the first place was to help him fight. I wish it was because he thought I understood him….even cared, but I knew it wasn't. 

"I'm from a place that you could never reach. Not even if you searched for eternity." 

"Where's that?" he questioned, lowering his eyebrows. I saw the strain it put on his burned face. 

"Another time…another world" I explained. Raziel nodded blankly. "If I could, I would show you, but I dunno how to return. I figured I have to help you" To finish the game. 

"I suffered an eternity.. You don't know what I would give to escape this…time" he said dryly. Somehow I never questioned his ability to speak without a lower jaw. EIDOS made it that way. He just did. . EIDOS's creation.. Created to amuse teenagers. Now. As real as myself. I don't know how it happened. It did though and know I don't know how to feel. 

"Tell me" I said to him, locking my gaze on his gleaming eyes trying not to stare at his tortured features. "Why do want me here? How am I to help you?" 

"I don't understand the question" Raziel said decisively. 

"What is it you really seek? Redemption? Love? Care? …Revenge? Or just somebody to confide in?" Raziel gazed into my deep brown eyes and looked me up and down a few times. 

"I'm not sure. I just need your help…I just know that I should trust you" I felt so guilt about bringing up the subject. 

"How can you trust anyone after what was forced on you by the 'person' you trusted most?" I asked. My voice began to crack. He shook his head and became silent. I touched his claw lightly. "We ought to rest. It'll be morning soon." No vampire would stray under the sun's rays. 

He didn't sleep. I wasn't sure what he did to rest. All I know is that when I woke up, the sun was setting. I groaned and sat up. Raziel was 'perched' on the edge of a nearby cliff, glaring at the sun. He always wore that tabard. Even when there was nobody else around. I knew why….not just his disfiguration. He frightened himself and he couldn't admit it. No longer the handsome warrior lieutenant, he was a…creature of the underworld. I crept almost silently up to him. He turned to face me. I sat beside him, swinging my legs over the side of the cliff for comfort's sake. 

"Heya Raziel" I smiled, touching his claw slightly. He drew back from me and moved away slightly. My eyes were drawn to his ruined wings, flapping in the wind like torn rags. "Why don't you want to be comforted?" I asked, trying to maintain my smile. 

"I've not known any form of gratification for …. What's seemed like an eternity" I felt that he would have wept if he could have. Unconsciously, I reached out, touching the edge of one of his wings. He flinched. The touch seemed to bring back so many painful memories. 

"I would prefer if you didn't do that" he said softly. I apologized and felt a warm tear run down my cheek. Somehow afraid he might see, I brushed it away. Bringing pain into peoples lives or just reminding them of it…I couldn't help it. I just always seemed to do it. And I hated myself for it. Raziel turned to me, laying one 'talon' on my hand. 

"I have no wish to upset a young lady" he explained. His eyes held a sort of sympathy for me. Damned irony. 'Young lady'. It made a change from 'lazy bitch' or 'stuck up cow'. The way people changed…it surprised me. My family. My friends. They all had changed…so much. 

"You know, Raziel" I began in a sort of shy undertone, resting my head on his shoulder "There is some sort of understanding between us. I'm so different from every one else..in my world" 

"Different?" he snarled. "A least nobody would notice. Children don't scream in terror when they see your disfigured body. You can just ..pretend" 

"I can't not be what I am. It's too hard" I murmured, too softly for him to hear. How would he react if I told him to trust me? I never did… 

_It's not the first time I've ever felt this lonely…_

I didn't get much sleep I admit. Raziel wasn't being a great help either. We walked silently. I admired the way he fought using only his claws as weapons. Silently, I wondered if I would have been as good as a. . . vampire thingy. 

Eventually we reached the broken bridges above the Lake of the Dead. Several waterfalls circled the central vortex. I peered down. Raziel glared with seething hatred. 

Suddenly, I felt a strong impact to my back. Both myself and Raziel tumbled towards the vortex. The water collided with my body with unimaginable force. I felt myself swept pitifully around… Raziel's cries of pain drowned out my own terrified screams. 

I woke up lying on a cobble street. Raziel was next to me- seemingly unconscious. Strangely, I wasn't wet. I got slowly to my knees, laying a hand on his shoulder. He twitched slightly. 

"Raziel.. get up" I whispered. He groaned, forcing himself to his knees. I took the chance to survey some of my surroundings… from the looks of it.. we were in Lindblum. A few passers by eyed us curiously. Raziel met my gaze looking like he could have ripped somebody's head off..

He cursed, digging his claws into a nearby wall. 

"Oh God.." I began, trying to wrap my fingers comfortingly around his unembedded claw (which was about twice the size of my hand). He snarled.

"Do you have any idea what I was just put through!?" he demanded. I clenched my fist. 

"How could I?" I would have asked if he was alright instinctively, but I knew better than to ask a pissed off 'vampire' stupid questions and forced the thought out of my mind. 

I helped him up.

"What madness is this!?" he demanded. I blinked. 

"Chill okay. I'll…try to explain this…uh.. " I flushed "We've been warped into an alternate universe. It's not mine, but I know my way around as if it were my home… " He raised an eye brow. "It's true!" I insisted. Raziel shrugged and allowed me to lead him to the Theater District. I headed for the Tantalus 'hideout'. 

"Wait here a moment" I advised Raziel. He nodded silently. 

I advanced and knocked. There was a mumbling of voices from inside the apparently uninhabited dwelling. 

"Hey! Tantalus guys open up!" I yelled, kicking the door. The door swung open. Blank… 

"Heya Blank" I grinned, forcing my eyes away from his scars.

"You're looking at…." he pointed out. I flushed. 

"I've seen worse" I admitted, wondering what Raziel would have said if he'd heard me referring to him in such a way. "Is Zidane here?" I asked. Blank smiled 

"He just got here" 

I nodded. Thank God.

"Thanks" I slapped Blank across the shoulder and smiled. 

Zidane was tall and unbelievably cute. I amused myself wondering how Raziel would react. His long blonde hair shone with life. I was aware of him surveying me with deep blue eyes. Raziel…he'd be undoubtedly jealous.

"Hey cutie" he smirked. I grinned. 

"I gotta ask you something" I began. Zidane returned my previous grin and nodded.

"Yeah okay, but I'm heading for the Castle District in a moment so be quick" 

My mind raced. 

"Well…I'm sort of traveling around here and I need you to get me and…." How to describe Raziel? "A.. friend…into the Castle. I need to speak to Cid" 

Zidane looked uncomfortable.

"You're gonna hafta see the boss about this you know. "

"Zidane!" I grabbed his shoulders, forcing him into a wall "Look. This is serious. If me and my….. companion do it by ourselves, lots of people are gonna…" well technically not die "lose their souls- literally." 

"Geez man.." he squirmed, and I prepared to hit him, despite the fact he had daggers "I can't, man. I told you"

"Look. I don't wanna have to punch you or kick you or hit you with something hard.." I began.

"No way" he pushed me off him. I staggered slightly before grabbing his arm, twisting it into a painful lock. 

"You really better not piss me off here 'cause negotiating with my.. companion is one hell of a lot harder." He raised an eyebrow. "C'mon" I dragged him around the corner to where Raziel was supposed to be. 

"SHIT!" He had managed to almost remove the soul of a certain black mage that was wriggling all over the place. Freya, crouched behind him, preparing to impale... "BLOODY HELL!" I rushed in, diving on her, knocking her from her crouched position. I ran up to him Raziel prying his grip off Vivi. "Jesus! I can't believe this. I leave you alone and ya start soul sucking!" 

"AAA!" Zidane fell back slightly. "What the HELL?!" Raziel glared. 

"Heya Raziel" I gestured to Zidane "This is our help" I guessed that he would have rolled his eyes but, I couldn't tell. I figured that he wasn't impressed.

I gestured for him to follow me, walking around the corner. 

"What is it?" he asked. 

"I think I figured how to get you back to your….universe" 

"And what's that?" 

"We help…" I gestured to where Zidane was "him and…them " I said meaning Freya, Zidane and Vivi "I can't explain this as well as I'd like to.. trust me." His eyes reflected some sort of thankfulness. I smiled. I knew he wouldn't have said anything. 

Zidane had been watching. I knew that he was wondering about me. Why did I look so different? I looked like a normal human, but I dressed , spoke and held myself differently. 

Somewhere, I heard a rushing sound. It slowly grew louder in my ears, becoming painful. I tried to lock it out, focusing on what Raziel was saying. The rushing drowned out the awareness from my mind… 

I hit the ground. 

Thumping. Stairs? Somebody was running somewhere- fast. "AUNTY CARREYYYYYYY!!!!!!!" they screamed. Home? "RHAPSODY'S SWEARING!!!!" Shit. Just what I need. Cousins, Aunts, Uncles, Grandparent, distant relatives and parents… Oh God. All my limbs hurt like hell. I felt like I'd jumped off the roof or something. Ow. Oh God. Oh…SHIT! 

"SHIT! SHIT! Oh Jesus… Oh shit…" Raziel was perched on my bed, not nearly as worn out as me, but clearly weakened. 

"RHAPSODY GET DOWN HERE NOW!!!" I swore under my breath- again. Why the hell was Raziel here!? He wasn't meant to be… Oh God what if somebody saw him. I was definitely screwed. 

"NOWWWWWW!" 

"I'm COMING!" I yelled, my voice crackled at the end. A reluctant cough escaped my dry throat. 

"Are you alright?" Raziel asked. I groaned, sitting beside him on the bed. 

"Yeah. I'm in serious shit though. You're gonna have to hide in the cupboard or something if anyone comes up here." 

"I know.." 

"It's nothing personal…but…they would freak out- seriously freak out" 

"I understand. " 

I smiled. 

"Cool. Thanks" 

I left, cautiously edging down the stairs. Mum was gonna freak. "Yeah?" I asked, attempting to look innocent. My cousins sneered. Damn 6 year olds.

"YOU are in seeeeerious trouble young lady!" she said, glowering. I sighed. I had better things to do- like figure out a way of hiding Raziel…. 

"Like- I figured" 

"YOU have just got yourself grounded for the next TWO MONTHS!" 

"Bloody hell!?" 

Mum turned and gave me the 'look-of-death' as I called it. I clenched my fists, storming up the stairs. Depressed, I threw my weight down next to Raziel. 

"DON'T ask!" I said, burying my face miserably in a pillow. He leant back against the wall until I had finally given being miserable for another more…sensible pastime. 

"What happened to you?" he asked, lowering his eyebrows disapprovingly. I grimaced. 

"Family arguments." I said dully. Raziel made a snorting noise. "Sorry.." I began, slapping him gently on the shoulder. I seemed to have just brought back a lot of painful memories. What would it have been like to be turned on like that….by your own father… 

The sins of the father…Be forgiven? 

Jealousy is also immortal… 

As is pain…. 

And death.. 

The ever awakening sleep. Death. A body is needed for rest… Flesh and blood…a spirit is neither, yet walks in its own unforgiving shadow…For eternity 

"Raziel.." I began again. Perhaps my hacking skills could be useful. Well…not mine entirely.

"Yes?"

"I think I figured a way of restoring you." I said, forcing a grin. What if it didn't work?

"What is it???" Raziel perked up immediately. "My God…such a thing.." I interpreted his silence.

"Not witchcraft. Technology" I smiled naturally this time. "You see, basically I have to-" 

My phone began to vibrate against my thigh. Cursing under my breath, I pulled it out. "Yeah?" 

"……" 

"Hey!?"

"……." 

"Look- answer me ,you!" 

"Rhapsody?" 

Oh…Dammit. My ex, 'T'. "Jesus, T why did you have to call now of all times?" 

"I wanted to hear your voice again.." 

"YOU wanted to hear me??? Nice try" I said, viciously into my mobile. 

"What's that? What are you doing!?" demanded Raziel, nudging me hard in the arm. 

"Who's that?" yelled T. "None of your business!" 

"I can't believe you! You smarmy bitch! You got together with somebody else and it's not even a day since we broke up!!" 

I hung up, dialing Laura's number. Ringing…ringing…hurry up and answer! 

"Heya, Rhapsody. What's wrong? You've never phoned at this time of night before.." she said, almost.. sympathetically. 

"I'm in really deep shit now. Meet me at the old warehouse in half an hour. Tell your sister, Carmen and Raquel to go with you. Just get the girls.." 

"What? No way. How the heck would we get there? It's like …miles away. There's no travel at this time. What about the others?" 

"I'll get them. You can climb out a window or something. There's horses in the fields. Don't tell me we're in shit if we're caught. I know. Unless you can drive, we don't have a choice." 

"I can't you can't be in THAT serious crap anyway!" 

"I can and believe me- it's worth it. This could just spark of some kind of scientific or historical breakthrough or some shit like that. I'm REAL serious, Laura. Just be there." 

The phone line went dead. Now.. to get the others. Menu…Text… 

'Be at deserted warehouse in ½ hour. Stay away from police. Take horse if u need. No vehicles. No water. Bring torches. NO COPS or adults. - Rhapsody' 

Send to… Robert ,James, Craig. 

I flipped my phone shut again. 

"Come on Raziel." I said, opening my window and grabbing one seriously long coat. I was going to be in MAJOR shit if somebody found out. Carefully, I placed a foot on the roof and slid down to the gutter, beckoning for Raziel to follow. I always got the attic bedroom every time we moved house. "Shut the window!!" I hissed. He perched at the end of the roof next to me. "Could you glide from here?" 

"Yes. I think so" he replied, surveying the distance. 

"Could you take my weight as well?"

Raziel looked shocked. 

"Yes..why? Do you want me to-" 

"Yeah. Can you do it now?" 

He nodded, letting me fix my arms around his shoulders. Raziel stretched his tattered 'wings', taking hold of the ends and glided carefully to the ground. I hadn't experienced anything like that since I first went paragliding. 

I traced my way to the fields carefully. The warehouse was a couple miles away to the north-east. Avoiding barbed wire, I climbed over the fence and edged towards the horses. I remembered going riding here when I was 8. Hardly any of the horses were still here. Only a few. A Clydesdale…to noisy and large. A '16 hand' black and a small '13 hand' dapple. I approached the black horse slowly, just keeping eye contact. Not staring. It allowed me to pat it's neck gently. That was good. This was a riding horse after all. I remembered its mother. She was pretty gentle, but unlike her son in front of me, she had a blaze. Her name was ebony. This one was all black. That would probably help us camouflage. I was never overly fond of riding, but it helped me get by. I carefully climbed onto the gelding's back, beckoning again to Raziel. The horse seemed slightly unnerved by him and padded cautiously at the ground. I helped him up, allowing him to drape the long black coat over his body. For most people, somebody like Raziel would 'inspire' them to call 999… It was nothing personal. Just safety. 

We rode on grass mainly. Galloping or cantering was too noisy on tarmac. Somebody had left a bridle on the horse. It had probably just been for a hack. The saddle was gone. Luckily, I had a better sense of balance than most, though I was sure that I would be subjected to saddle sores later. Raziel didn't complain. In fact, he remained absolutely silent. I was worried that somebody might spot his eyes from their homes. 

After about ten minutes I became aware of two other horses behind me. Their hoofs padded almost silently on the grass. I looked behind me. One rider flashed a torch at me. Carmen and James. They were the most annoying pair of people I had ever met, but they were really smart and I didn't know anyone that could hack a computer quite like them. They would be necessary if I were to pull this off. 

"Don't flash!" I hissed back at them and gestured for them to come up beside me. 

"Hey!" complained James, almost overtaking me. "What's this all about? If we get caught, then we are gonna be in such deep shit here!" 

I elbowed Raziel making sure he kept the coat over his head and turned back to James. 

"Keep your voice down. We're a bit late already. I can't afford to have this screwed up okay. I'll tell you when we get there. I can't risk anyone finding out." 

"Whatever. Stop being so paranoid." 

Of all of the people I had arranged to meet with it had to be them that caught up with me when I was so close to the warehouse. 

I could just see it at the end of the road. The others were already there. Their horses were walking around on the east green. I dismounted, allowing mine its freedom. 

"Stay there" I whispered to my 'discovery'. 

"Hey! You're late!" said Raquel, folding her arms. I nodded. 

"I know. Sorry. I got a bit held up. Can you just tell the others to go in and I'll be there in a moment?" I asked, glancing around. Raquel nodded. 

"Sure"

She headed off. I saw her lead the others. They didn't complain. They trusted her. 

I supposed that I should trust them. They were the best that I knew. Raquel didn't trust anyone else that much, but she always kept to her word. Unlike the others, she wasn't very clever on a mathematical or computer basis. She had something different. The something that kept everyone else going. Raquel was the one with the ideas. Laura was neat and organised. She could keep everything together and wipe out a computer virus in a few hours without any new flashy disk wiping equipment. Her sister, Nicole was the peace keeper. She seemed out of place here. Her happy-go-lucky attitude was different from our more isolated minds. Nicole was great at micro-chip technology. That wasn't normally a skill grasped by those under 30. Robert was always isolated. He didn't say that much. You could tell what he wanted by the way he looked at you. He had a strange affinity with computers. His skills with the internet were unsurpassed. He knew where to go for everything. Craig was the best person I had ever seen with HTML. He could design and entire website in a second. And. He had a sense of humor. That was valued. Me? I was the brain of our group. I devised and used. They twisted and contorted. I used. I always risked and tested. They were the skills and I was the mind. 

"Come on down" I said, helping Raziel down from the horse. They were so gonna freak out! I murmured that he should keep the coat on until I said it was okay to take it off. My hand slipped into my pocket. My palm pilot and mobile were still there. That was good. I thought that they had fallen out. Slowly opened the door and climbed the dodgy looking metal staircase to our 'hang-out' at the top floor. We had positioned out laptops and other equipment along the walls. Mine was already there. I'd left it last time it appeared. "Hi people" I said, leaning back into my old computer chair. 

"Hey" said a few blankly 

"So, like why are we here?" demanded Carmen. I felt my chest tighten slightly. 

"I need you to all promise to never say anything about any of this to anyone. Ever. Okay?" 

"Yeah.." 

"Cool…" 

"Alright" 

"Whatever" 

"Sure" 

I took a breath. "Come in" Raziel walked in the door, his clawed feet clicking on the dry wooden floor. "Take off the coat" I murmured. He did so, dropping it to the ground. Carmen screamed and grabbed her brother's arm. Nicole stared, holding her laptop against her chest. Raquel looked shocked and turned to the side making horrible retching noises. Robert blinked and looked slightly green, but didn't moved. Craig murmured something uncouth and James tried to console his sister. Laura just watched me disbelievingly. 

"Bloody hell" murmured Craig. 

"So it's not just me that saw that?" asked Carmen, wiping away a sufficient amount of tears. 

Raziel, I noticed was looking considerably miserable. "It's just shock" I reassured him "It'll pass" 

"Perhaps" he murmured, glancing back at them.

"Should I tell them?" I asked. Raziel fell silent. 

"What's going on?" demanded Nicole. She was 19- older than any of us, but not any where near the most responsible. 

"I don't know what's happened, but.." I turned to Raziel. "Do you want to say it?" 

"_I _ would prefer it to be left undiscussed" he said, turning away. I assumed that he was feeling offended. 

"Fine. I take it that you recognize him at least." I knew that they all would. We'd competed at virtually every computer game in the district. 

"Well…yeah" said Craig. Mumbles of agreement came from the rest of them as they sat on their chairs again. 

"So…basically we need to get him back to his world. I think I figured how to do it as well…" 

I proceeded to explain my plans. Hack Soul Reaver and freeze it as soon as the opening sequence starts. Activate the possess cheat so Raziel can have his old body back. 

"That's all I have so far" I explained "But I think I could come up with more later." They nodded. 

"So.." began Laura "We have to alter the programming on the disk or make an entirely different one so that we can have a period 'freeze out' and then install a game shark for the 'possess cheat' so we can enter the code." 

"Uh-huh" I nodded. 

"That'll take ages to program…like months or something" whined Carmen "And if we need to completely re-do the whole disk, then it could take a year." 

"It is necessary" I reassured them "Look. You don't get vampires or anything in this world so scientists would be all freaked out and they'd try to do all sorts of weird experiments and-" 

"Okay. Geez. Loose the details. You're having histerics" complained Raquel. 

"If it's gonna take so long…then you should at least say get to know each other" I insisted. 

"So…like I'm seriously looking at Raziel?" asked Craig looking confused. 

"Yeah" I replied "I got warped into his world…" 

"Major.." said Craig, grinning. He stood up and walked over to Raziel, holding out a hand "Heya, man" 

"Hello, human" replied Raziel smoothly. The girls giggled, no longer showing any signs of fear. 

"He has the voice! Yay!" squealed Carmen delightedly. Carmen had a crush on Raziel- or rather his prefallen form. I wasn't sure if she'd be so open about her feelings with the 'real' thing around. 

They were about half way through the handshakes. I noticed Carmen shaking insanely. Laura still showed indifference. I figured she didn't believe any of this was real. Raziel stopped and turned to me. "I must speak with you" he 'ordered', grabbing my arm and leading me out of the room. 

I leaned on the wall, massaging my arm. 

"You gotta be careful, you know!" I insisted "You're gonna dislocate something!" 

"My apologies" he continued "This is far more serious" 

"Yeah okay" I replied coolly .

"I must feed" he announced.

"Oh shit" I cursed. What was I gonna say to the group? I was in major shit. "Well" I began "I guess you better just do it then. I can't have you evaporate or anything" Raziel nodded and moved closer to me, bringing a claw to his tabard. He stopped suddenly. What's wrong?" I asked, relaxing slightly. His.. eh-hem…'jawlessness' freaked me out a bit still. He shook his head blankly. He still expected me to be freaked out. I was, but I wasn't going to show it. 

"Raziel, I know exactly what's under that tabard.. cowl.. thing" I said "Now hurry up before you pass out or something. We can't help you if you're unconscious" 

"Are you sure?" 

"Yes!" I said "Just get it over with- quickly. 

Slowly, he lowered the tabard, showing his disfiguration. I bit my tongue slightly. Nodding, I allowed him to draw me into that weird 'embrace' that he used to draw in human souls. 

I woke up almost instantly. I felt…tingly and dizzy. 

"Jesus…that was totally weird" I mumbled, holding onto a wall for balance. Raziel, I noticed was leaning on the opposite wall. "Hi.. ow.." I knocked my shin off a long metal pole. Surprisingly, Raziel came to my side, allowing me to lean on him. "Thanks, man!" I said, grinning. 

"That's alright." He replied "You've helped me a lot more" I nodded. How much bloody soul did I have? I was going to run out soon if I wasn't careful. 

We re-entered the room, sitting back down. 

"This is going to take loads of research you know" informed Laura. I nodded. Raziel's attention wasn't on us anymore, he was surveying the interior of the warehouse. 

"Does he really have the.." Raquel gestured to her lower face "thing missing??" 

"Yeah" I nodded. Raquel was only 12, She could get away with talking like that. She was a child- more than any of us. 

"Have you seen…?" "Of course" 

"So.." began Robert, speaking for the first time "Did he ever talk about the….abyss? I mean like.. how it was.. and what it felt like and…" 

"Not much" I said thoughtfully. I didn't want to bring up the subject while he was here "I don't think he wants to remember it. It's.." I stopped. Raziel was looking straight at me. I went scarlet "Sorry.." 

"It's alright" he said, forgivingly "but if you don't mind I know more about what happened" I shrugged. I knew about all of it….and the theories, but after all, it was more his business than mine. "What do you want to know?" he asked. Silence…. Everyone eyed him. I noticed most eyes focused on his tabard or wings…would-be-wings at least. Raquel spoke first. 

"Can we see your wings?" she asked, looking like she was going to burst into tears. Reluctantly, Raziel got up and moved towards her. I never actually thought that he would do something like that. Raquel was obviously nervous. Raziel also looked slightly unnerved. He turned to face me, giving them a good look at his wings. I noticed Raquel reaching out to touch one torn fragment of skin. 

"Hey!" I yelled, almost jumping off my seat, scared that Raziel would instinctively attack or something if she did anything. Raquel withdrew her hand and sulked in her seat. Craig tried something a little more daring. 

"Can I see that cloth-thing?" he asked. I glanced at Raziel, handing him my coat. 

"Use this if you want" I said, sympathetically. He shook his head. 

"I can't do that." He looked at Craig once more and said nothing else. 

The questions continued for about half an hour until I saw the sun on the horizon. 

"Shit.." I mumbled to myself "People, we really need to get going. Research like hell okay!" I waited for them to all leave before beckoning to Raziel. 

"Are you alright?" I asked. 

"Why?" he said, sitting on a 'swingy' chair again. 

"You seemed a bit.." how do you rephrase 'bloody pissed off' "distressed.." 

"I'm alright. Thank you for your concern" 

"You know.. you're an okay guy really" I said, giving him a playful slap on the shoulder. Raziel looked curious. "It's a compliment" I said "Take it" He nodded, confused. "It's 'cause I thought the questions might have upset you a bit. That's all" 

"No." he said, retaining all smoothness. 

"Let's go. Mum'll kill me if she finds out that I'm gone." 

I arrived back home around 5am. I'd be so tired at school…. I flopped onto the bed. "What do you do" I asked Raziel. "Do you sleep?" 

"I don't know." 

I shrugged.

"You look like you could use some rest anyway. You can have the top bunk" I gestured to the bunk above me. He would be less noticeable there. 

I didn't sleep much. Only an hour, despite the 2 hours given. There were too many things to think about. What would happen if somebody found out about Raziel? The sooner I got him looking 'normal', the better, even if I couldn't have him back in his own world. 

"RHAPSODY!!!" screamed Nikkita plummeting into my bedroom and landing on me. I cried out. 

"Get off! OUT! NOW! GO!" I picked her up, pushing her out the door. When would Mum buy me that lock I had been talking about? I pushed a chair up against the handle. The last thing I needed was for Nikkita to be telling tales about Raziel. "You up?" I asked, standing on my table to view the top bunk. 

"Yes."

"Did you sleep, though?" 

"I don't think so" 

"Cool. I'm gonna go to school today so you should probably stay here. There won't be anybody in the house today, plus I have the key. Can I trust you not to break anything and I'll show you some neat stuff later?" 

"Alright" he replied, emerging from underneath the covers. 

I couldn't wait to get the equipment ready. He used to be absolutely hot!! 

I allowed Raziel to absorb a small piece or my soul before I dressed in the bathroom, making sure that nobody enter or left my room. I re-entered my room, handing Raziel my old Nokia 3330 and explained to him how to contact me if need be. I turned on my mobile, hoping that there wouldn't be any trouble. 

School was. .normal, basically apart from strange looks from Laura. The others were being perfectly secretive about it. According to Carmen, they had found a program which could let us do it within 1 month. They could just hack and bug. That would help. Definitely. 

"What's wrong with you? You're not yourself" Laura pointed out. 

"Yeah I know" I said, pretending to continue with the chapter on advanced calculus. 

"I've been de-souled if you know what I mean." 

"No way!" she half yelped.

"Yeah"

"He didn't"

"It's okay. I said he could" 

"What!? Are you mad!? You can't keep doing that- it'll kill you!" 

"I know" I admitted quietly. Good thing that I was sitting at the back of the class. "That's why I need you guys to take my place soon" 

"What!? I'll…think okay" 

"Yeah" 

My phone began to ring loudly. Mrs Graham looked up from her desk and walked up to my desk. 

"Hand over the phone" she ordered. "Now" Shaking, I handed it to her. "Hello?" She answered it I couldn't believe it. "Who is Raziel?" she asked, glaring at me. I went bright red and glanced at Laura. She was doing the same. She hung up, pocketing the phone. "See me at the end of the day." She ordered. I jumped to my feet. 

"Get down!!" hissed Laura, pulling me into my seat. I pushed her off. 

"I told him not to call unless there was an emergency! This could be serious! What if he's set the house on fire or something!?!?" 

"Fu-" 

"I know - that's why I have to get that phone!" I knew that I was shaking. I didn't get any work done that day. I blanked out completely, waiting for the end of the class. 

"Mrs Graham" I began "I'm really sorry about-" 

"I don't care what your sorry about!" she snapped, tossing my phone back at me "If this happens again, that phone will become school property. 

"Yes, Mrs Graham" I rushed out of class. 

Menu… 

Old Calls.. 

My mob.2…

Call…

Ring…ring….ring…ring… 

"Raziel!? Are you there!?!?!" 

"Yes" 

"What happened? Are you alright?" 

"There are people at your door" 

"What do they look like?"

"Blondes. Female. Two males. One blonde. One with black hair and dark skin." 

"Shit!"

"What?"

"Nothing. Enemies of sorts. That's all. Stay in my room. I be there in a moment" 

I turned off the phone, ramming it into my pocket.

Thank God 6th years were allowed out of school during lunch. I ran outside to Laura's car. Having a 17 year old best friend helped a lot. Taking out my phone again I selected: Menu…

Texts..

'Laura- ur car now luv -Rhapsody' 

send… 

Waiting… Oh God. Where the hell was she. The Avalon gang were at my house. I was in shit. They'd be in and out of reform schools and prisons since they were 10. I'd had to get on the wrong side of them at a time like this. 

"Rhapsody!?" yelled Laura, skidding slightly on the tarmac as she clambered into her car. I climbed in next to her. "What's going on?" 

"Tremoros. My house"

"Fu-"

"NOW!!"

"Jesus okay" 

The car skidded into the driveway round the back. I ran out, climbing in the window and up to my bedroom. Laura followed. I panted, collapsing to the floor of my bedroom. Raziel was perched on the windowsill, watching them. 

"Well it's no bloody wonder they're here." I gestured to Raziel at the windowsill. Natural human curiosity. "Raziel!" I grabbed him, pulling him down from the window. "You're going to attract attention!" 

"My apologies" 

"Apologies aren't going to help us. We have the Tremoros at my doorstep and they aren't going places fast. 

RiiinnnnnnngggggggggRRRRRRIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNGGGGGGG 

"Hello?"

"Heya. This is Nicole here" 

"Hey, Nicole"

"We figured a way to pause the game in the opening scene just long enough before the whole thing blows and we can do it today." 

"Right. Tell me . What is it?" 

"We start up the opening sequence, overrun the files with a bug and give you 5 minutes to activate the cheat and get both of you out of there before the whole thing blows" 

"Blows?"

"As in -crashes, gets destroyed, like.. you gotta buy another disk cos that one wont work like hell." 

"OK. Come now. Round the back. Bring a game shark. I've already got the codes" 

At least we cold forget about the Tremoros for the time being. And so, I explained. We had to activate 'Soul Reaver', Warp Raziel back in with a surge of electric/ magnetic energy, I'll activate the possess cheat, he goes into his old body and we 'power down' slightly to get him back out before the system crashes. 

Nicole arrived later with the game shark. I'd sent out texts to thank the others for their research already.

"Plug it in" I said, turning to Raziel. "Are you ready?"

"I think so"

"I don't know if this will hurt or not so you might get a bit of a shock when we warp you in."

"I'm sure I've felt far more agonizing things"

"Whatever."

Nicole adjusted the plug, turning on the playstation. Raziel didn't understand what a 'game' really was. He'd basically thought that we were some sort of witches or something that had created a strange portal into his world. From a certain point of view we were. "Surge" 

"Ok"

There was a brief flash and the opening sequence began to play. Raziel (in his soul reaver form) was transparent in the corner, watching. 

"FREEZE IT!" I yelled. Frozen.. Everything was in suspended animation apart from the (soul reaver form) Raziel. Laura began the 5 minute countdown. Hoping I was being accurate, I put in the cheat. Raziel moved towards his past self slowly, apparently glowing slightly as his spectral self faded into his prefallen. The prefallen Raziel looked around curiously, touching his wings and torso, finally coming to his face. 

"30 seconds!" yelled Laura. 

"Power down! Power down!" I shouted to Nicole. She entered a set of codes into the d-pad and game shark simultaneously. There was another flash and the 'prefallen' Raziel stood in front of us. I grinned at the curios way he looked at us. 

"What?" I asked, laughing. 

"Thank you" he replied, smiling. That was the first time I'd seen him smile… 

"So, are you completely vampire again?" 

"Of course" 

I noticed him staring at a cut on my arm. I presumed that I'd got climbing in the windows. "Hungry?" I asked. 

"You've helped me enough already.." 

"Tough!" I grinned "Sit down here with the rest of us and just take it okay! I'm not going to do anything else but bleed all over the place!" Raziel nodded. I could tell that he was tired. He needed to feed. It was obvious. He leaned forward, holding my arm gently and sucked and licked at the blood. It felt strange to have somebody on my arm sucking at blood. He kept resting his head there for about 10minutes after all the blood had gone. The cut was quite deep so I'd need a bandage later. I'd have to wash it as well. 

"Raziel.." I began, lifting his head. He blinked slightly, apologizing. Carmen was going to love this. 

There was a 20 minute long period of silence before I spoke. 

"Can you fly then?" I asked, smiling again. "Come on. Show them off!" By 'them' I meant his wings. Raziel stood up spreading each wing individually at first and then raising them as high as they could possibly go in a sort of pose of triumphant glory. Slowly he lowered them, smiling at me. 

"What do you think?" he asked proudly. 

"Absolutely wonderful!" I half giggled

"So do I get to touch them now?" I asked. Raziel was silent for a moment. 

"If you really want to.." he said. Obviously nervous. I walked behind him slowly. He watched me. I reached out, stroking the skin along one wing gently. Raziel flinched. 

"Are you alright?" I asked, worried "Did I hurt you?" 

"No.. they're just extremely sensitive. That's all."

"If you want me to stop I will." I insisted.

"No. It's okay, I can trust you" I knew what he meant and reached out again to touch a wing. This time he didn't move. I brought my hand slowly along the top of both of them simultaneously. I could feel the pulsating warmth just beneath the skin. Raziel was tense as I moved towards the higher part of his wings. I supposed that was where Kain had been when he ripped out the bones. 

"Relax.." I said quietly, stroking his wings all over again, almost lovingly. I stopped eventually, smiling at the way he watched all my movements behind his back. 

"I think we should go somewhere tonight to test your flying skills" I whispered to Raziel, touching one of his claws lightly before turning back to the others. "What are we going to do about the Tremoros?" 

"Ask them to leave?" suggested Nicole. 

"If they don't?"

"We tell them that we'll set a vampire on them!" laughed Laura, looking back to Raziel 

"Would you mind?" she asked. He shook his head. 

"If that's the repayment you want"

"They'll tell newspapers or something!" protested Nicole. I shrugged. 

"So? Nobody is going to believe some drugged up kids with concussion that've been in and out of prison all their lives. I mean, what the hell would they say? Some guy with claws and wings and big pointy teeth tried to kill us?" Laura and Nicole nodded. 

"Good point." Said Laura nodding.

"Don't really kill them" I said to Raziel warningly. 

I carefully advanced down the stairs and opened the door. "Why are you here!?" I demanded. 

"Cos like we wanna see that weird thing what ya got in yer room ,right!" 

"There's nothing here. You're hallucinating." I insisted. Pathetic. Bloody pathetic. At least I could defend myself if it got vicious. 

"You like better let us in, right!" Drake attempted to grab my shoulder. I anticipated the action, catching his arm and twisting it. There was a loud cracking sound as he bent over, groaning with pain. I figured that his arm was broken. The rest of them were looking vicious as hell now. 

"Go away now. You don't have any business here you freaks!" I screamed. Oops. The other boy- Thomas drew a knife. I backed off slightly. 

"You're for it bitch!" he said angrily pushing his way into the house. I slammed the door, dimming the light in the corridor slightly. 

"Raziel!!!!" I yelled, preparing myself. I blocked the first 3 attacks, but the fourth caught my arm tearing off a huge amount skin. I cried out slightly. "Raziel!!! Help!" 

Raziel arrived holding a sword by his side. Thank God he brought the sword with him to the meeting. 

"Fuckin' hell!" said Thomas backing off slightly. I smiled at Raziel. 

"Thanks, man" I grinned. "I mean .. vamp" 

Thomas was now pinned against the wall with a sword point an inch away from his neck. 

"Leave now" 

"Bloody Freak" mumbled Thomas, slamming the door behind him. 

I grinned at Raziel.

"Thanks like hell!" I yelped. I noticed him fixated on my cut again "He he. Okay. You can have the blood." I raised my bleeding arm allowing him to drink some of the blood before proceeding to the kitchen sink. "You might want to keep back" I warned Raziel. "There's probably gonna be water squirting all over the place. Raziel moved back about 3 meters until I had satisfactorily washed, dried and dressed the wound. 

Four o'clock. Half an hour before Mum came home. I left a note, 'forgetting' about being grounded. 

_Hi Mum +co., Gone to the park. Back for dinner at 6. -Rhapsody._

It was October. The 25th. It was usually dark by 3pm. The light wouldn't be a problem. I led Raziel upstairs. 

"You'll need to wear a coat or something to cover your wings in case people are there when we arrive" I said, holding out a leather jacket. "Just keep them folded flat.. oh yeah and keep your claws in your pockets. Your trousers are pretty long so nobody will really notice your 'feet'." Raziel nodded. 

"Alright." 

I locked the door behind us as soon as Nicole and Laura had left and started up the street towards the park. I noticed the way Raziel's hair blew in the wind. Undoubtedly cute. I wasn't concerned about his amber eyes. Lot's of people wore mirrored or cats eyes contacts. A few of the children gave us strange looks. I was never seen with males normally. 

We reached the park and noticed the only two people there. Clarissa and Joanna. My old friends/enemies. They came and went. And this time came to sit next to us on one of the deserted climbing frame bridges. 

"Hey people" I said blankly. They had interrupted an interesting conversation about flying. 

"Hiya!!!" they chorused. Why couldn't they act like normal 16 year olds, but then again, after recent events, I was hardly normal. 

"Hey.." began Clarissa " You sorta look like that Raziel guy…. You know from Soul Reaver." Raziel glanced at me as if I were supposed to say something. Joanne cut in before I had the chance to say anything. 

"Oh yeah!! That Raziel person!! Rhapsody's always on about him!! I mean for GOD'S sake" she mimicked my admiring tone _ 'Aww poor guy' 'Don't you feel sorry for him?' 'He was so cute as well'_ oh yeah and _'You have to love him, I mean, isn't it such a shame??'_I mean she totally takes it too seriously" 

"Why do you care!?" I demanded going scarlet.

"YOU fancy him!!!" insisted Joanne. She turned stupidly to Raziel "I totally bet that's why she's going out with you! I mean do you even go to our school? Dump her for god's sake. She's totally obsessed with the guy."

"SHUT UP JO!" I yelled, kicking her hard in the shin. Raziel turned to me. 

"What's this about? Is it true?" he smiled, obviously fighting to not laugh.

"Maybe.." I said, grinning myself. Raziel unzipped the front of his jacket keeping it on just enough to cover his wings but show muscly arms. 

"Aah! Acid!" giggle Clarissa flicking water at us. 

"Don't I complained, dabbing at my new top. Raziel cursed loudly, glaring at them while moping up some blood from his arm. 

"Cool" mumbled Clarissa curiously. I glowered at her. 

I passed Raziel a small tissue from my pocket. He took it, moping up some blood. "Vampires bleed?" I whispered curiously. 

"Of course." He said, still absorbed with 'moping'. Clarissa leaned over , staring at Raziel's claw. 

"Well cool…" she murmured, reaching for her mobile. Naturally, I jumped her. Grabbed her arm twisting it the same way I had done Drake's. 

"Don't move" I warned "If you do, your arm's gonna break." I turned to Joanne "Same for you if you try anything." 

"What the hell is this about!?" demanded Jo. 

"Don't say anything." I ordered "And just go away now. If anyone finds out- we'll know who told them and believe me- you wont be feeling great the next morning." 

They glanced at each other, glowered at me and stood up to leave. I waited until they had left- satisfactorily before speaking again. 

"Damn. That was so humiliating" I murmured. Raziel put an arm around me. I resisted the urge to move away. 

"So does that mean that it was true then?" he asked. 

"Yeah…" I flushed scarlet. Raziel smiled at me. Sweet, really. I noticed that he was bleeding again. 

"Does that hurt much?" I asked, looking at his seared skin. 

"Slightly. It's not that bad though but I'll leave a scar" he said decisively. I pulled out an old cloth from my pocket (don't ask why I kept it there) and tied it around his arm. 

"The pressure should stop the bleeding" I said. It normally worked anyway. "Are you going to fly or what?" I asked. He shrugged, tossing off the jacket an opened his wings more slowly than before, stretching them carefully. 

I watched as he flapped a couple times testing the thermals. Eventually he attempted a glide. That worked. 

"Hey!" I yelled down at him from the climbing frame "I thought you could already glide!" 

"I can" he replied. I watched the way he flapped. Not at all successful. 

"Don't flail!" I instructed "Search for thermals and keep your legs straightish"

"How do you know all this?" he demanded looking pissed off. 

"That's what birds do. Just try it!" 

He did- eventually getting about 10 feet. After half an hour he managed 30, turning in mid-air, balanced perfectly on thermals. By the end of the hour he had almost perfected his flying. Damn. I envied the guy. 

He landed beside me again. 

"Tired?" I asked curiously. "No. Not at all" he said proudly.

"Damn. You're lucky" I mumbled. 

He grabbed me quickly around the waist, holding me tightly against his body as he took off again, swooping around the sky. This was so much better than paragliding! I felt the wind rush against by body. It was as if I were flying myself! He did a loop-the-loop once before landing again. Dizzy, I fell onto my back on the grass. 

"Oh my God! That was amazing! You're great…..oh my God!!" I breathed deeply, laughing blissfully. Raziel leaned down, offering me a claw. I excepted, leaning on his shoulders for support. "You're wonderful" I smiled, attempting to regain my sense of balance. 

"Not quite" replied Raziel "You are wonderful. I am restored" I grinned. 

We arrived at my house again around ten to six. I rushed Raziel up the stairs, yelling the I was home before slamming the door behind us and fumbling for my phone to text Carmen. 

_Cammy, howza? Raz restored. It wrkd. Thanx 4 hlp! Hes w8ing 2 meet u. -Saz_

Raziel waited patiently by my sofa bed (which Mum had tucked away) obviously needing to say something. 

"Yes?" I asked curiously. Raziel was uncomfortable. "I must feed…" 

"Oh God… AGAIN? I'm gonna have the scars from hell by the end of this week" I grumbled monotonously. " Can't you wait?" 

"The hunger is unstoppable.." 

"I can't really let you drain me completely but I guess I could make a little cut that wouldn't be too dangerous" 

"Thank you"

I glowered, cutting slightly into my shoulder with my penknife- razor sharp. I felt the sting of the steel against my flesh. Sore as hell. Warm blood trickled down my tanned skin. Raziel bent slightly, resting one claw on my shoulder and the other on my lower arm. He seemed to hesitate slightly before resting him head on my shoulder, shuddering slightly. I could understand more from what he had just told me. He must have been starving… Poor guy. His lips were surprisingly soft… warm. 

Even after all the blood was gone from my…..'wound' he did not move his head. I ran my fingers slowly through his hair. I felt him flinch. Slowly, I breathed out allowing him to slip one claw onto the back of my head. I lifted his head again, resting him beside me on the sofa-bed. Raziel let his head relax, falling into a pillow. He looked …half-conscious. "Are you alright?" I asked, leaning down next to him. 

"I feel like…I've been….born again….but it's always like that" 

"Relax…" I said soothingly, stroking him forehead gently. He seemed exhausted. Poor guy. I knew that unless I got him out of here we'd be robbing blood banks pretty soon. 

Raziel just _lay there_ for about half an hour before he spoke again. 

"I thank you" he whispered, forcing himself back into a sitting position.

"No problem" I smiled, fidgeting with my plaster. "So? Feeling any better?"

"Yes. Quite a bit in fact, although I do prefer it straight from the neck. "

I winced. I knew I couldn't do that. 

"Raziel.." I began "Are you sure that you want to go back? Do you really wanna get revenge any more? You could just stay!" I couldn't believe what I was saying. I _knew _ that he couldn't stay…but I wanted him to so much. Letting go was going to really hurt.

"I have to. I don't belong here…" he said solemnly, fighting against streams of emotion. I understood. He wouldn't feel right. I didn't feel that it was right either but I felt so close to him. His mind still held part of soul. 

Day passed. A month. Myself and Raziel began to grow distant. He left at night often, returning just before sunrise. 

I fell ill one day. He didn't return. I saw no reason to worry. He was a vampire. He could take perfect care of himself. My panic began to turn to fear. I picked up my mobile just as it began to vibrate. 

"Yeah?" I said shakily. Raquel's sympathetic young voice sounded over the phone. 

"I'm really sorry, Rhapsody…Raziel's …gone" 

"GONE!? What do you mean?" 

"Back to his.. world" 

"How? Why?" 

"He said that…oh.." Raquel's voice began to crack "You'd been so dear to him… and " she broke into tears "he…he…said that…he…felt like it was…like the….abyss all over again ….leaving you…. but.. he had to go…'cause… it was like…..wrong.. and he said he'd promised to come back some day….'cause…he never got to hold you properly…and that's why he always asked you for your soul…because he wanted…to hold you so much…and have part of you.." Raquel hung up. I felt the with held tears fall down my face…relentlessly. Raziel…gone. Forever. 

_I woke up the next day. It was like a dream. None of them seemed to remember anything… they tell me now that it was a dream and that I played far too much of that video game. Mum told me that I was never grounded and that my cousins hadn't been here for ages. I know now that it can't be real but I never stop dreaming. I always feel as if whenever I open my eyes I'll be back there in Nosgoth. Some dreams are too real. It will be hard to forget, but I know I must, even if it's hard sometimes._

2085. Rhapsody passed away. She never moved from her house in Edinburgh. It was always sacred to her. Friends and family drifted away from her. On her tombstone is a poem. Written by her. For a long lost….friend. 

_Why do I write of love for you, For yo are naught but a dream, A fragment of a distant fantasy, Of things that couldn't be_

A man visits her grave. Sad amber eyes. Angry. Hurt. Ebony hair, bound back in a pony tail cascades over his shoulders. A cape is worn over his back, seemingly concealing something. Tears of blood fall to inhuman feet. A claw is placed on the stone and he speaks. 

"Forgive me my sweet child…I have betrayed you. I swore to return and do so now to great sorrow. I come too late.. forgive me…" 

And unto him…the wind shall whisper.. "I love you….Through pain and grief….sorrow…..find me….find….paradise in my soul.. reunite us…" 

It is too late….he had gone from this world. Separate souls… joined…and forgotten. 


	2. Mwaha!

I suppose I should get back to my reviewers, yes. *smiles* Thankyou EVERYONE for reviewing!! Oh. I LOVE YOU!! *throws self at tiny crowd*. Oh well. I tried.  
  
Vipergal140: Thanks. Well, alas, I suppose the ending was needed, even if it was a bit short and..er , perhaps not as good as the rest of it. Actually, I felt rather pathetic after I had finished writing. DOn't worry *smiles* your fanfics are pretty good and completely un-messed up!! :-)  
  
Aeris-WhiteMageofCetras: Oh, yay!! I finally gave somebody a decent rush of emotion. Brill. You loved it! *gives all around hugs* JOY! I'll try to do more on this, but it might still be a little tragic.  
  
VladimirsAngel: Yeah. Storm Driven was really good. Perhaps the ending was a little truncated, but I couldn't think of any other way of ending it, and I was feeling miserable when I finished it.  
  
Dark-Sephy: Well, yes, I'm TRYING to sontinue the story, but, erk, writer's block is hovering around AGAIN. I like FFVII too actually and yeah, I wish I could have been Rhapsody... but, there's no WAY I'd have let him go without ME!! Hehe  
  
Jackie ALmasy: Well, here yoou have it. I WILL try to continue and fight the evil writer's block! *waves sword*. I ABSOLUTELY LOVED Ambitions of Desire, too. I hope you'll read if I continue! :-) 


	3. Kestrel's Aunt Rhapsy

Wind Blows, Water Burns  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Disclaimer: okaaaay. I don't own any LOK characters mentioned, but I do own Kestrel.   
  
Enjoy  
  
"KESTREL!!!"  
  
Oh brilliant. Just what I needed at a time like this. Biting back the urge to tell my brother where to put his new 'command', I made my way, sulkily toward the poster covered door which led to his 'dark domain' as he called it. Flinging open the door with my good hand (the one which I hadn't managed to drop the radiator on while fitting it in HIS room) I stood in the doorframe, fixing him with my glaring green eyes.  
  
"What!?"  
  
He rolled over an empty cola can and allowed it to clank onto the already stained floor.  
  
"Bring me a pack of crisps" I turned to face the door "and take this out to the trash while you're at it" The can hit me on the back of the head- hard. Stooping to pick it up I cursed at the throbbing pain and headed out, discarding the can in question on the roadside.  
  
So what if I was caught for a little thing like that. What difference would it make?   
  
A non-existent mother, a father who was always out and a brother who made sure that I did just as I was told.  
  
The graveyard was just a couple blocks away. I could always pick up Dean's crisps on the way back. He knew that I wouldn't dare forget. He made sure...  
  
Too lazy to walk another block, I placed my foot on top of a brick which ad jutted out slightly from the side of the stone wall and vaulted over into the trimmed grass and flower beds of my home town's tiny graveyard. Naturally, my eyes scanned for a certain angel shaped gravestone. Three to the right and four up… I sidestepped over the graves, careful not to stand on any (it was bad luck, apparently). Personally, I had never been superstitious, but, after my friend had died one week after jumping up and down on some dead lord's grave for a dare, I started to watch my back. Up four… this was the tricky part- to diagonally sidestep numerous graves to get to perhaps, one of the hardest-to-get-to graves.  
  
Aunty Rhapsy's.  
  
Rhapsody hadn't technically been my aunt, or any relation whatsoever, but she had been extremely interesting with a lot to tell. That was what mattered to me. When I was younger she scared me with stories about a young teenage girl (funnily enough by the name of Rhapsody) who fought vampires and eventually found love in that strange world she knew as Nosgoth. As a young child, those stories had always scared me, but now, older, I realised that there was more to it than good vs. evil or anything like that. She had believed them. Every word of those stories… She had believed them. Obviously psychopathic, I had thought and dismissed them. Rhapsody was always good company to me, even though she would sometimes forget what she had been saying and go all cold, staring blankly out of the window and whisper,  
  
"He's coming back… I know he is. He loves me… He'll come back."   
  
The poor old lady. She must have been losing it in her old age.   
  
I prepared for the last sidestep to get to her grave to pay my respects, and realized that somebody was already there… 


	4. Rhapsody's Last Lament

Wind Blows Water Burns Ch3   
  
Rhapsody: Hello  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Raziel/ LoK/ Kain/ Umah/ Turel Dumah/Rah- *gets prodded*  
  
Rhapsody: err… this is only about me and Raziel, remember…  
  
Kaya: *blushes* be quiet. It's my disclaimer   
  
Alright, basically, Rhapsody's lamenting about life without Raziel and how he is going to come back to her some day with the lyrics from 'Hello' by Evanescence for effect.  
  
Yay!! I managed to update!! I'm so happy with this. Nice tradgic stuff!  
  
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  
  
"Playground school bell rings again,  
  
Rain clouds come to play again"  
  
I don't want to go back to school. I don't want to move on to college or university or go and find a job. I just want him to come back to me.  
  
"Has no-one told you she's not breathing?"  
  
I think I'll die if I don't see him again soon...because, I just refuse to believe that Raziel really HAS gone forever, that no matter how long I wait I'll never see him again...that he isn't real. I can't tell anyone, they'll just laugh at me.  
  
"Hello, I'm your mind giving you,  
  
Someone to talk to,   
  
Hello"  
  
Or, perhaps I'm just insane? Yes, maybe that's it. Schizophrenic and hallucinogenic. Isn't it just laughable? I can imagine it written out neatly on a little sheet commiting me to a mental ward. 'The subject in question is suffering from loneliness and the recent loss of a relationship, causing her to retreat into her own mind for petty comforts and making her permanently delusional.' It would make it all so simple, just to say I dreamed it.  
  
Then, explain the scars on my arm where I bled myself for him.  
  
Oh yes, I must have tried to slit my wrists in my sleep. How pathetic.  
  
"If I smile and don't believe,  
  
Soon I know that I'll wake from this dream"  
  
Perhaps, I did dream it, but so what? I'll never care about somebody the way I cared about Raziel. I'll never even let myself try. Because maybe, just maybe if I wish hard enough, he'll come back to me and take me away to Nosgoth with him. Maybe not Nosgoth, but… just somewhere where we could be together. Somewhere SECRET.  
  
"Don't try to fix me,   
  
I'm not broken"  
  
I don't know how many times I've been sent for psychiatry treatment. Why do religious people believe what's been written in a book, but nobody believes me?  
  
Why?  
  
"Hello, I'm the lie living for you so you can hide,  
  
Don't cry"  
  
I promised myself that I would never let them break me. Never. I would always remember what happened between us. Dreams don't feel like that. Dreams aren't so real. They don't hurt like that.  
  
"Suddenly I know I'm not sleeping,  
  
Hello,  
  
I'm still here,  
  
All that's left of yesterday…"  
  
The thing is, none of them remember it. Not even Laura. It's so pitiful that maybe Raziel cast some sort of memory spell on them so they wouldn't remember and didn't have the time to use it on me. Or, didn't he want to use it on me? He wanted me to remember, didn't he?   
  
Well, I'm not dead yet.  
  
And I can still remember.  
  
Raziel, I will ALWAYS love you. 


	5. Return of Raziel

Chapter 4  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything LoK, okie? Kestrel and everything Kestrel-esque is mine.   
  
I felt the redness rush into my cheeks as I reached over to tap the dark haired man in question on the shoulder. Slowly, in a way that made my heart catch in my throat, he rose, gracefully to his full height, head bowed just enough to prevent me from seeing his eyes. Somehow I shivered. Something about him… something…  
  
"I'm sorry" I apologised automatically, hands shooting magnetically into my pockets "I…uh…" once more, words failed me "You knew Aunt Rhapsody, right?" What was I doing asking a complete stranger if he knew a dead friend of mine?   
  
"Your aunt?" he questioned "You are a relation of hers?" My mind raced in a frantic search to discover who this man was.  
  
"N-no… she was an only child" I explained on reflex "I just called her aunt…because…we were good friends, I guess" My cheeks reddened more by the second and I was running out of things to say... so, I went with the flow, very badly. It would have been a minor understatement to say that I was panicking. "I l-liked her a lot if you know what I mean. She was understanding and stuff… y'know… but, she… it figures that she kind of snapped later… "  
  
"What do you mean… snapped?" I could hardly tell if his tone was defensive or… somehow accusatory.  
  
"I thought you knew Rhapsody? She never told you… I thought she was famous for it. Her 'stories' I mean...or insane ravings, whatever you want to call them. If you don't know, then I really shouldn't say."   
  
"Enlighten me" my new companion insisted, head still bowed, eyed still hidden in shadow. I couldn't refuse. Don't ask why- I physically couldn't stop and, oh my God it scared me.   
  
"Didn't she tell you? All about Nosgoth and stuff… I think she kind of believed it, like some kind of crazy obsession, then, there was this guy she said she met. It's was totally impossible of course. She must have just been so lonely…" I forced myself to pause and think for a moment," What was his name… R-Raz-Raziel I think she called him. She always said that she… I can't say. Not now that she's gone" My throat muscles seized up and relaxed as if somebody had just released a very firm grasp on my neck.   
  
There were certain things in life which frightened me, and at that, very few of them. My 'favourite' had always been the unexplainable which I myself had a particularly scary explanation to.   
  
"Raziel?" he asked, curiously and I nodded "What did she say about 'him'?"  
  
Somehow, I didn't trust this man one bit.  
  
"At least give me your name" I insisted. An uncomfortable pause followed and I dug one hand deep into my pocket.  
  
"I am Raziel" he finally answered and raised his head to look me in the eyes, sharp amber eyes piercing into my own.  
  
"Holy shit"  
  
NOTE: OKAY! I know this probably made no sense at all. I'm in dire need of some more sleep and food. The next chapter will be better! *grovels* PLEEEASE review! If you review I'll try to review something of yours, plus, you can have a hug from Raz!!!!  
  
(And I know that it was too short. Writer's block attack…)  
  
  
  
Review Responses up in a few days!! 


	6. I LOVE MY REVIEWERS!

Reviews Rule!!  
  
*waves* HI!!! I haven't put up any review responses since I finished chapter 1 ages ago, but don't worry *hugs* I really am thinking of all of you!!  
  
*pulls out a notepad and starts to tick off names*  
  
bahamut: yay! You've been reviewing *huggles* Can't WAIT for your next chapter to be uploaded. PLanar travel's great, huh. :-)  
  
Jackie Almasy: Oh, I hate myself for getting writer's block and making a horrible cliff hanger like that.. Grrr *kicks the writer's block* I'm still going! (Hope you're satisfied with your hug from Raziel!!! Heehee)  
  
Tremerid: I've got the next few chapters up, in case you haven't noticed . Believe me- I really am trying not to overdo the whole cliffhanger thing.  
  
Sylvanon: *grins* Congrats on getting your ffnet account! I remember how great it was when I first got mine and your fanfic's brilliant for a beinner!! Oh yes- it is Raziel.   
  
Vipergal140: Aw, Vipey- one of my faithful reviewers. *Hugs* Being hyper willl always be one of the great joys of life. Computer bugs SUCK!  
  
Dark-Sephy: Yay! Brill- you reviewed three chpters in a row all on the same day!! *Impressed look* The world needs more poeople doing that. Perhaps it's a little too angsty? Should I brighten things up for a bit?  
  
Cloti: You've finally got around to reviewing Wind Blows!!! *sproings* You're the only person who's r&r-ed my ff9 fic,feathers against a silver sky. THANKIE! Writing more as soon as I can!  
  
Deebuggie: Ooh... a nice review from someone new in my world of reviews. Was that too weird? Hugs from Raz are always good!  
  
Tom T Thomson: The story' coming on too, I just wanted to point out that I'd have review responses up soon *holds up hands*. :-)  
  
___________  
  
EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED THIS RULES THE KNOWN WORLD!!!  
  
***************************************************  
  
Alright- review the next chapter and I post and *pulls out a cloning machine* you get a fully opperational LoK character of your choice!!! 


	7. Explanations

CH5 Explanations   
  
Disclaimer: Damn, I hate these things so much… I own nothing *bleed bleed*  
  
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _   
  
Yep, this chapter is guaranteed to suck a little. I've just written it first thing in the morning. I hope I'm still going to have reviewers..  
  
___ _ _ _ _  
  
I flinched and quickly tore my eyes away from this so called "Raziel"'s, looking him up and down once more.  
  
"What do you want..?" my voice was cracking a little now. The panic was truly beginning to set in and I half believed that he was really there. Raziel cocked his head.  
  
"I want a way to bring Rhapsody back" he stated. I wanted to throw up.   
  
"Well I'm sorry but that's kind of…well, y'know IMPOSSIBLE" my feet stepped backwards on impulse and I swayed on the spot.  
  
"Impossible?"  
  
I nodded.  
  
"Yeah. It can't be done, sorry but, here, death is death- period" I watched Rhapsody's grave half expecting it to move, or a rotten zombie-like hand to spring up from the ground. It wouldn't have surprised me.  
  
"There is always a way of resurrecting the dead" Raziel corrected me quickly "No matter what the world is, there is ALWAYS a way. Her soul still exists, I can sense it… all I must do is find it"   
  
Everything he had said skimmed past me, somehow tying in with everything Rhapsody had said and still, somehow I couldn't quite grasp the meaning of any of it.  
  
"So, supposing souls are real" (I had never believed in them myself) "and supposing that by some weird process you can get at her soul, you'll NEVER be able to reanimate her body"  
  
"Why not?" It was obvious that Raziel didn't believe me.  
  
"Because she's all underground and decayed. All that's left is probably a skeleton" I shrugged. My point was proven and I took my time to point to her gravestone. Raziel didn't seem fazed.  
  
"It doesn't matter, when I turn her she will be restored"   
  
I didn't say anything. I didn't even want to know what he meant by that or how he was going to do it. He'd never be able to… Not without the police fining out. Not without him getting found out… and experimented on…and...  
  
"It's STUPID!" I exploded.  
  
"Why is this?"  
  
"Because…because… you'll be FOUND OUT! There's no way you can get away from the police and the army and..and… come on, don't be insane. You'll be killed" Raziel stared at me coldly.  
  
"Of THAT, child, I have no fear"  
  
"The name's KESTREL, love"   
  
You know, I could have sworn that I was finally getting some control over the situation!  
  
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _   
  
Well, that's me, little pathetic mini chapter. I have ideas (lots) of for the next chapter, perhaps involving McDonalds and trying to normalise Raziel and make him less… obvious. Anyway, be nice and review. *points to photo booth* review and Raziel will take a picture with you and sign it! 


	8. Review Responses while I write up CH8

**Review Responses**

Okay,okay… I am VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY _VEEEEERY_ sorry for not updating for you lovely people. Forgive me? So here we go:  
Shadowsin: You're right, I should update, and I will (as soon as possible). I actually was considering letting somebody else take over for a bit and I probably will if I find that I can't really write it any more.

**Federaldeath1313**: I'll not make you wait half your life, I promise. I really feel AWFUL about the looong wait. Really glad you think it's great though.

**Vireyda Magodaly**: Aaaa! I will! I will! wails at the number of reviews wanting more No wait… people wanting more is a good thing!! Yay!

**Tremerid:** I hope you do read the rest! ) It's always great hearing that people are enjoying my writing! happiness

**Dark-Sephy**: Joy of joys! It doesn't suck! I'm definitely updating now!!

**Rose Akaichou**: Yes, yes, I AM continuing. I'm writing it right now.

**Sylvanon**: I'm not sure if you're "wind rider" or "wolf gurl" right now. I'll have to go off and check it out. It's a good thing that you missed it right..? Updating updating…

Righto. If anyone still wants to read this there'll be plenty more to come.

Kaya


	9. McDonalds

**Disclaimer:** I know nothing nor do I own it. curls up NOOOO! All references are copyright to who ever… apart from Kestrel. She's mine. Mine, mine all miiine. 

_Now, this is my first chapter in AGES so be nice and drop a review okay? It might not make sense completely but I did try and I had to rush it today. The first part is in Raziel's POV then Kestrel's then Raziel's etc_

**Chapter 8 :McDonalds**

I followed this strange child down the road, a coat draped around my shoulders, keeping my head down against the unwelcome stares of the public. To be honest I was afraid, terrified in fact, and lost too. Unwilling as I was to trust…Kestrel she seemed my only hope. I sighed. Obviously, my appearance would be ridiculous to any watching- a girl's long coat pulled horizontally about broad, masculine shoulders. She turned back to me, seeming to sense my discomfort.  
"You can rip it a bit to put it on, you know. I don't mind" the remark was follow by a forced, strained smile. I returned a blank look. Rhapsody was dead. How could I smile? Nevertheless, I pulled it on, tearing it at the seams and thrusting my hands in the pockets. Fantastic- now I looked even more ridiculous. "Kestrel…this…" I began quietly, intending at first to tell her how this was what Rhapsody would have told me to do. Having second thoughts, I silenced myself and turned away. She continued to lead me down the side of the road and turned left to stand beneath a transparent shelter.  
"We're getting a bus" she said to me, not questioning what I wanted to do. Still, I followed her silently, taking a seat next to her small form which shivered against the cold. "A bus" "Yeah. A bus" Kestrel said, voice dead "Like… to go somewhere without walking. It's a little hard to explain. Just follow me and sit with me, okay. I'll do all the talking" I nodded silently and we sat in uncomfortable silence for a while longer.

It was virtually no time at all until the roaring, red carriage rolled in front of us. I stiffened and hissed in an almost automatic response, shocking Kestrel. Taking my arm, she led me aboard it, taking out to oddly shaped silvery pieces and placing them in a slot. At the back of the carriage, in a deserted section, we sat. She was so much quieter than Rhapsody had been and I sensed a disturbance within her.  
"Kestrel" I said, under my breath, not moving "Please forgive me if I have frightened you" She let out a small laugh.  
"I'm not scared. I'm just confused… and worried. You must be having a hard time coming to terms with things anyway, huh?" "Yes" I agreed "but I will change it…" As I saw it, anyone could be brought back, should their soul still exist. Rhapsody was dead, believing, no doubt that I had betrayed her…

Why was this so uncomfortable? I turned to face the window and stared out of it, sadly. The town flashed by me, the people outside moving in slow motion. I got to my feet and slipped over Raziel, making my way down the isle and beckoned to him to follow. Leaving the bus, I led my vampire into a small single storey McDonalds. Wait… why did I think 'my vampire'? Did I truly believe him not to be human? But… mine? I shook my head, aware that Raziel was beside me and placed my order. It seemed to take for ever to turn up and once we had finally found a table, there was an uncomfortable silence.

Sauce gooed down from the end of my burger and dripped onto the table. Raziel drew back a little.  
"How can you eat such a thing?" he questioned me and I met those amber eyes for only a second. "It's good" I told him thinking of how funny we must have looked to everyone else. "See" I said and held it out. He drew back, eyeing it, confused. I laughed "Oooo! Careful! The burger might come to life and rip your head off" Obviously, he didn't notice that I was joking.

Claws flashed up and sliced through my meal which lay in halves on the tray not a second later. I made to wipe some of the juices from my top, sighing deeply. "Look, that was good food" my arms folded around my chest. "I think it's goddamn time you explained this all to me" Leaning over the table on my elbows, I locked eyes with him. "Explain"

Her eyes met mine, unafraid and strong. To be honest, I was shocked by her. This young girl challenging me… I refused to dwell on it. It brought back too many painful memories. Her determination deserved something, but nothing that I was prepared to give. My recent experience beneath the Citadel had become somewhat hard to bear. An incomplete soul and a decades too late.

Raziel remained silent. "I cannot yet" he said softly. I reached out and grabbed his arm, preparing a retort however before I had the chance to we were interrupted by a boy I knew by face, a McDonalds cap on his head.  
"I'm real sorry but can you leave? We've just had a number of complaints.

"Got any money on you?" I asked, walking the burger sprayed vampire into a familiar shop. I quickly corrected myself "Oh… right. Never mind" From my pocket, I pulled out ten quid. It had been my brother's once. Doubtless, he would do something terrible to me for taking it but I was used to that. It wouldn't do any harm to stock up on some make-up to cover the marks I thought, a little sadly, remembering the first time I had sat in front of the bathroom mirror, smearing concealer and foundation over the ugly purple swelling on my cheek. "Kestrel?" Raziel's voice pulled me from my memory and I nodded.  
"Okay. Find a shirt. I know. Stand there" I lifted a black shirt from the rack. At the top corner was a faded looking red band logo. This would to I decided, holding it up against his chest, hands quivering a little. "Come on" I said, faced with a new dilemma.

Where the hell was Raziel going to go now?

That's all for now, a chapter that's finally forced its way out over a couple of days. Honestly, this has been haunting me all through the day. I NEEDED to get it done!

Oh yeah… if there's any questions about what's happened so far that you want to ask me, feel free to stick them on your review somewhere and I'll put in a chapter explaining everything.

And now I bribe you- candyfloss wave wave Come this way my little reviewers!!


	10. Left in the Rain

WOAH!Look! Kaya- updating _quickly_! Isn't it a shock?  
Anyways this is chapter 9. Nasty icident as promised. 

Disclaimer: I don't own Raziel. I own Kestrel. Lalalaalaaaa boring

Enjoy

* * *

Kestrel had turned and left, stalking down back to the bus stop. This was no longer a funny little adventure, a revisit to an old story told by a dead friend. No, this was reality and death in reality was so far, far from fiction. Her stomach rose to her throat as her walk quickened, turning soon into a run. The image of the dead, horror stricken face burned in her mind and she wanted to cry. Truly, Raziel had been protecting her and not even she herself could deny it but who would believe her? Her fingerprints were everywhere… over that mugger, sliced open diagonally along his belly, guts spilling out onto the path. At least it was down an alleyway, she reasoned, trying desperately to find the good in the situation. It wasn't working. 

"Kestrel!" She heard the cry behind her, desperate and torn. "Kestrel you cannot leave me!" Kestrel kept her head down, screaming into the wind "You have no right to tell me what I can't do!" There was a momentary silence before she heard his voice again, far quieter now.  
"Please…please help me. I…need to be with Rhapsody"

She stood for a second, head turned a little in Raziel's direction then looked down. No, she thought. This was not right. Perhaps some other insane eccentric could help but not her.  
"…no…" she choked out under her breath before swinging up onto the bus, not looking back once at the wet and defeated figure standing slouched on the pavement.

Raziel watched Kestrel go. Not once did she look back to him. Not once… So he remained alone, the rain soaking him through the shreds of her coat. It hadn't been the first time he had felt like this. An elderly woman passed by, hushed by the look in his intense amber eyes. Kestrel's life had been threatened and all that Raziel had done was to risk his own safety in defending it for her. What right had she to abandon him after that favour? Of course her assailant was dead. Had he been left alive he would have doubtless come back for revenge. It was only common sense. …Common sense that had cost him his guide and last link to Rhapsody.

For this Raziel cursed himself.

"Why..?" he begged, lips moving voicelessly chest heaving. Why had everyone he had ever needed or trusted left him? This could not be a complete coincidence. Nobody deserved this, least of all him. Why should one who had always tried to serve the most righteous of causes be cast down lower and lower each time…?

_Why?_

_

* * *

_Okay... that's a little improvement to the storyline methinks...mehopes. Anyway, drop a review and I'll love you. You know I will. Candy anyone?? 


	11. A handkerchief?

Imagination444! You put my little fic in your faves!

* * *

**Ch10 **(as promised.. wow.. I should really try to keep on top of this) 

The bus slid off into the darkness, just another soaked, cold, lonely stranger in a world of strangers. Somehow… it no longer felt strange that the rain didn't hurt. Truly, he hardly felt it. After a while, Raziel lost sight of her completely.

Just like everything else.

After a little time alone, he sank back against a wall, head bowed, thoughts turning to Rhapsody once again. She had been so…so… the word for it wasn't human… it was… real. Did she think of him after their parting, he wondered, or did she forget.

No, he snapped at himself. She wouldn't, not out of fear but out of being part of something that he, being what he was should never have had the right to have experienced. In Raziel's mind she was never the skinny little broken thing that she had been before her death. She was still the lean, vibrant child fighting (as best she could) by his side, a constant candle in the ever threatening, unavoidable darkness.

Rhapsody…his Rhapsody.

He wanted her to be there.

To remember.

Anyone else who would remember.

"I can't not be what I am. It's too hard" she muttered again inside his mind. She hadn't meant him to hear but the truth in those pained words was terrible.

The rain didn't stop for hours but nevertheless, Raziel walked like the dead that he was, pursuing Kestrel's trail for miles, the memory of her fresh in his mind. The tarmac felt unnatural and every petrol tainted breath of air brought back painful memories. He would find Kestrel and Rhapsody would follow soon after.

That house.

In there.

"Don't touch me!" she backed up against the door, swinging it open. Lightning flashed against the rain highlighting for a slip second the weary, lonesome figure waiting on the street behind her "Fucking leave me alone!" The door slammed and as expected, no further attempt was made to reach to the so called 'problem' child.

Some people are always misunderstood.

Raziel watched her reaction on seeing him with a little pleasure. She froze and stood still as if she had been strung up, eyes wide, heart thudding.

"You're there?" she said eventually, shakily. The memories of Rhapsody that had originally come into being had quite quickly been washed out of existence by far more disturbed images of the alleyway incident. The obviousness of her question hit after a few seconds without a reply. "Yes… you are" she muttered and combed through increasingly damp hair.

"Kestrel" Raziel addressed her calmly, keeping his distance to avoid her fleeing again "Hear me out and then, I promise you, I will be gone" She nodded, eyes never leaving him. Her boldness reminded him of Rhapsody... "Do you have anything of Rhapsody's? A handkerchief? An item of clothing? Anything?" He doubted extremely that she would have been the type to carry a handkerchief however he was learning many new things. Kestrel's watery eyes squinted through the rain at him and after a moment's thought she said.

"I think so… it's pretty important though. Why d'you want it?"

"That is my business"

Perhaps now he would see his beloved Rhapsody again.

* * *

So it seems like it's going happily, right? But what will Rhapsody's reaction be when he turns up at an unexpected point in her life. Will she even know who he is?

Btw, I'll stick a little review response type-thing on just after this seeing as my computer's being all crappy right now.


	12. Review Responses for chapters 8&9

**_Review Responses for ch 89_**

**Ch9**

**Imagination444**- Aww.. I love it when people love my fics! And yes- I'll bring back Rhapsody but I'm not promising that it'll be a happy little time for any of them.

**Smoke**- You liked the short flashes? Didn't think anyone would really. Oh yes and- the angst will continue at least for a bit after Rhapsody and Raziel are reunited.

**Northstar1982**- Here's the (late) update. I know... We must all huggle our ickle Razzy...

**Ch8**

**Smoke-** I loved writing the burger thing ) What kind of things need a real detailed picture?

**Rose**- yes I am! See- I even updated.


	13. Tarnished Memories

**Imagination444:** Wow, you're enthusiastic! Anyway- here's your longer chapter withRhapsody in it too. )  
**Smoke:** You like ALWAYS review. It's amazing! I tried to make it less...fragmenty. Any better?  
**Totschafe:** Here's Rhapsody but.. should I keep the angsty Raziel along with her being there? 

After another wait, it's Chapter 11. Hopefully I didn't screw this one up as much as the last one...erk

* * *

**Chapter 11**

Rhapsody's necklace lay, lifeless and tarnished at the centre of the rings. Raziel was disappointed in Kestrel- she hadn't cared for it well. Crouched, he backed away to the edge of this particular ring and proceeded to light the candles, red for the inner ring. He fumbled a little, having difficulty with the lighter.

Kestrel, at a corner of the attic watched warily. She would have commented but now, she feared him more than anything. When she had at first refused to hand over Rhapsody's chain, she had been sure that he was about to kill her. Her fingers reached to her throat. It still burned…

She swallowed, admiring the way that Raziel, powerful and lethal as he was lit the tiny red candles so delicately, their lights flickering and reflecting against his near translucent skin. Before now she hadn't seen his wings fully- they had been folded tightly against his back or hidden by whatever strange magic he commanded.

Now, however, his attention was focused fully on the ritual and they spread wide behind him, huge and delicate with the faint candlelight still visible behind.  
Magnificent, she thought and leant back, feeling more at ease now.

Moving onto the third and last circle, Raziel extended a hand to Kestrel.  
"Pass me the blade" he whispered and took from her the short kitchen knife. Slowly, he pushed it down into his arm, dragging it across and letting two drops of blood fall into each circle. Nearly as soon as the act was complete, the wound healed itself. It was as if it had never existed.

"Is that it?" asked Kestrel, confused.

Raziel did not reply. He got slowly to his feet and moved to the centre of the rings, holding Rhapsody's necklace to his dead heart. Slowly, calmly, his amber eyes closed over and he began to murmur the necessary incantations. It began as a faint shimmer but grew, steadily, darkening as it enveloped him within it. Kestrel watched Raziel as he disappeared along with the necklace, trying to persuade herself that this was no dream, but in time, of course she would believe that it was nothing more than that.

Rhapsody sat against her bed, tears burning down her cheeks. This had become quite nearly a daily occurrence in the past year or two. In fact, instead of losing faith in what many people claimed to be 'her imaginary friend' or 'a way of dealing with her word crashing down around her', she had become even more extreme.

Drawings and small quotes on pieces of paper littered the floor, a few even stuck to the walls.  
Her back was turned to the door and window, even to Raziel as she sat, hunched on the floor, her head buried in the side of her mattress. Wanting not to frighten her, Raziel crept closer, and shaking for some mysterious reason, reached out to place one hand on her shoulder…so gently. She sobbed again, louder this time and nodded.

"Okay, Dr. Boreland…I'm coming" Raziel's brow creased in confusion. Of course… he realised- she did not realise that it was him.

Taking her necklace, he sank to his knees beside her and turned her around, silently holding the tarnished piece of jewellery out to her. Rhapsody took it from him, her hand still damp from her tears and looked up into those amber eyes…in all this time, she recognised him completely...even…even though she could tell that something had happened, something painful and awful.

It was then that an awful thought came to her.

"Am I imagining you?" her voice was shaky. What a stupid thing to ask is she was imagining this, she thought. Unable to speak to her for fear of making a mistake, Raziel shook his head. Rhapsody sighed and reached out to touch his shoulder, terrified that her hand would pass straight through him.

It didn't… her cool fingers came to rest on his flesh and undead as it was it was warmer than hers had felt in so long. In disbelief, she moved her hand further up to feel his neck, his dark hair (why was it so damp?) and then to his face. Raziel closed his eyes for a moment before returning her touch, stroking gently down from her chin to her thighs. "I…missed you" she whispered.

"And I you" "Raziel…if this is a dream, then let us make it memorable"

He understood. Rhapsody had been young when he had left her but now, she was a woman.

"Rhapsody… I love you"

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So- that was Chapter 11. One question- should (try to) write the next scene where they get super close or just leave it and move on to just afterwards?  
Reviews and help will be much appreciated.  
xx 


	14. A Reunion

_Useless information: This horribly late update was written to Belinda Carlisle's cover of "Heaven is a Place on Earth" _

_ An update- finally! I wasn't entirely sure how to put this together but I did it the best I could and recently my writer's block has been lifted and I've been assailed with all sorts of ideas. Please review me and let me know that you're still there and if I'm doing okay, if anyone is left out there. x_

**Disclaimer:** Raziel and Kain belong to Eidos, not me. Rhapsody, as usual is mine, although I'm sure she'd have something to say about that one if anyone took the time to ask her. Please do enjoy.

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The thin garment that Rhapsody wore was the same stark white as the walls of the room and the bedding on which she sat, a far cry from the vibrancy of the her last dwelling.

She made a small gasping sound as Raziel's claw traced smoothly along the line of her neck and turned her chin up to face him. Noting that her tears did not burn him, she placed one small, light hand on the talon curled gently beneath her chin and tried to focus on his features, regarding her in an apparent mix of concern and adoration. How long had it been, she tried to remember. After the first year, the detatchment had grown and though her body had changed, she had ceased to register time with much clarity. It could have been three years or just as easily, ten.

"Oh god... you feel so real"

Her voice broke slightly as she spoke, her grip tightening on the talon beneath her hand. Raziel rose from his crouched position on the floor and came to sit beside her on the bed, one arm draped as lightly as he could manage across her shivering shoulders.

"My Rhapsody" there was regret in his voice as he spoke, claw edges running through her hair "What has become of you?"

Unresponsive in her silence, Rhapsody's eyes followed his movements, fingertips tracing the line of his jaw and then his lips in a bid to ascertain reality. After a moment she spoke again, this time with more clarity to her voice, more certainty. She did not quaver and a long forgotten sense of independance found itself again in her posture.

"Raziel" she said, her voice breaking free of its former restrained quality. She waited for him to nod in recognition of his name before continuing "Where did you go? Tell me what happened since we last saw eachother, please... you...left with no explanation"

"It would have been too difficult to say goodbye to you, and I needed to go, to... finish things."

"I waited" she said, not hurt or defiant, just a statement.

"Oh.. I know you did and I've come back for you" Raziel said, voice quiet, his words sounding more like a plea than a justification and with an ancient need to save face continued "Kain eluded me, twice and I'd like you to come with me this time. I missed you, Rhapsody"

She cast her gaze down to the white floor beneath her bare feet and sighed.

"You are real, aren't you" Rhapsody's eyes met his again and in one silent movement, she drew him towards her, one hand slipping lightly to the back of his neck, the other resting on one claw which had earlier fallen on her thigh. With a sudden, surprised intake of breath, Raziel made a slight attempt at speech which was quickly cut off once more. His grip on her tightened as their lips met and the streak of blood on her mouth that he tasted caused him to shiver, a familiar warmth spreading through his body. Instinctively, he found himself undressing her and noticed with a saddness how thin she had become. Rhapsody gasped wordlessly at the touch of his claws and arched herself slightly under his cool body to better feel his beat of his heart against hers.

Dawn had yet to fully break when they were woken by a faint clicking from the door of the room.The early winter frost making crystals on the window and Raziel stretched his wings against the wall and reached down into the covers, pulling them further over Rhapsody in an attempt to block out the cold. Her hair fell loosely over his bare chest and stirring lightly from her own sleep, she curled her fingers around one redded talon, pressing her back closer into Raziel's chest, cool as it was, and making a soft, satisfied noise.

The door opened into the room, despite the couple's oblivious state and the orderly who entered promptly dropped her tray.

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Thank you so much for taking the time to read. I'm already planning out the next few chapters. Leave me some nice reviews and I'll have the next chapters up in no time, I promise. x 


	15. Escape

_Aren't you proud of m_e, updating so quickly! I haven't been able to tear myself away from writing recently, even though (or perhaps because) I have a lot of things going on right now that other silly non-writer people reckon I ought to be prioritising.

_The next chapter, by the way, will be written from Rhapsody's P.O.V._

_I'm enjoying writing this again so much. I really hope you enjoy reading it just as much.  
_

_**Disclaimer**: Raziel and any references to Nosgoth belong to Eidos, CD etc. Rhapsody is mine._

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**Ch13. Escape**

The tray clattered to the floor, spilling its contents, a shock of colour against the clinical white. The orderly did not scream but made small, high pitched noises in her throat which suggested that if only she could remember how, she would. Shaking, the woman focused her eyes on the wing that came forward in a protective arching motion over Rhapsody as Raziel's attention focussed on the intruder. He placed one claw on Rhapsody's shoulder and got to his feet, still naked, standing at his full height and making eye contact with the small woman. Sweat thinly covered her rapidly paling face and making her first movement since noticing Raziel, she steadied herself on the heavy open door.

"Be quiet" he told her in hushed tones "I have no intention of hurting you"

His stance was slightly crouched and it was obvious that he was trying to keep from holding himself in the usual predetory manner. It wasn't entirely successful. The woman, getting paler as the reality of the situation became more apparent made a horrified strained sound and stumbled off nearly on all fours down the corridor, making incoherent noises.

Raziel turned back to Rhapsody, pulling on what clothes he had. "Where is this?"

She draped her white gown back over herself and smoothed her hair with her hands, remarking causally;  
"Oh here? It's a mental hospital. This" she gestured about the whiteness of the room "is where the insane are kept"

"The insane?" His tone was quizzical and he stooped a little to look her in the eye, his own eyes wide with a mixture of interest and concern'

"Oh, yes. You see I wasn't entirely willing to accept what had transpired as a hallucination. My family weren't incredibly supportive as I'm sure you can see" She nodded this time to the iron barred window. Raziel noted that it would be too small to phase through and continued to mentally compile a list of ways in which they might best escape with minimal casualties and damage to the property. He couldn't imagine that Rhapsody would be very impressed if, on their way out he took half the building and staff out too.

"Rhapsody, was is the easiest way out of here? We will need an open area before we can transport to Nosgoth" He cast a glance at the door, listening for approaching footsteps.

"So no chance to catch up?" she sighed a little, looking up at Raziel in an imploring manner before continuing "Out the door and left then into the main corridor. You can get out through reception that way though I'm not entirely sure you'd want to be seen by that many people" a pause "I suppose we could always try a fire exit"

"And where would we find one of those?"

She thought for a moment and made a couple of hand gestures, signifying turns and distance.

"Opposite end of the corridor, I think... but I don't know if they lock them or not. I'm sure it wouldn't be the first escape at-" Raziel turned to fully face the door, one claw raised in a universal gesture of 'shush'.

Heavy footsteps were making their way along the corridor accompanied by male voices speaking in amused, casual tones.

"No, I'm sure she's just spent too much time here, people are affected sometimes, you know"

"But we still need to check, it's our job, then we can have her seen to"

Rhapsody was now on her feet, adopting a long unused defensive posture despite her inadequate clothing, standing a little behind Raziel. The men, dressed in white equally as stark as that on the walls and floor turned the corner into the room and slowed to a stop in the doorframe, batons hanging limply by their sides. Their posture however did not crumple into fearfulness as the orderly's had. Nonetheless, Rhapsody could not help but notice how dwarfed and fragile they seemed in comparison to Raziel, if not in size then in...something else. Batons now abandoned, they reached instinctively for the small tranquiliser guns which hung at their belts. One dart caught Raziel on the shoulder and was quickly ripped out and crushed under a claw. He flexed slightly and started forward when much to his surprise, Rhapsody spoke up.

"Please, please just let us go" She spoke slowly, her voice carefully low as one migth speak to a violent animal. Rhapsody was fully aware of how Raziel would react to this confrontation. The men, guards most likely, exchanged looks worldessly.

"And lose our jobs?" one asked after a moment, showing an unusual amount of bravery for a human faced by a vampire which was casually sharpening its claws.

"If you value your lives you will let us go"

"We can't do that" the guard made to reload his gun, the other taking blindly confident aim seeminly having forgotten how little effect the last dart had had on the vampire.

"No, don't!" Rhapsody made to run forward in a gesture of warning and cried out a little as a dart caught her in the neck and she fell to the floor.

Raziel watched her fall, swearing that if she had been killed, he would exact vengeance upon the entire institution. The guards, now taking with worry the lack of effect the tranquilisers were having on the vampire in their midst, grabbed for their batons. Raziel looked up at them, brushed the spent dart from his chest and allowed the Soul Reaver to flare with firey enthusiasm into life.

Their cries as they fell to the blade were heard by none save the patients in neighbouring rooms who took little notice, assuming them to be those often hear in these corridors. Nobody noticed either as the fire exit was forced open with a crash that bent the metal of the doors. Nor did anyone take notice as the huge shape soared over the stairs and out over a nearby village out to the moors.

It would be hours before anyone would come to the room again and they would find it empty and pale, save for the scrawled notes and sketches strewn across the floor.

The moor was empty when Raziel landed lightly and set Rhapsody down. He fastened the old necklace about her neck and crouched by her until, near half and hour later the tranquiliser began to lose its hold. Relieved, he slipped one arm beneath her and lifted her into a sitting position. Her vision swam for a moment as she struggled to focus on him, fighting down a familiar wave of nausea. Another moment and her surroundings became apparent to her. One hand reached for the ground below her to find grass which she touched tentatively before getting to her bare feet, swaying slightly as she did so with Raziel's claw steadying her. She blinked a couple times at the sunlight and in silence and allowed her eyes to survey the horizon.

"We're outside" she commented and took a step forward away from the support of Raziel's claw against her back.

"Yes, it is good to see that you've noticed" He smiled now, more relaxed and amused by her childlike reaction to the long unseen outside world. She moved about a little, eyes taking everything in, taking small, soft steps on the grass.

Rhapsody laughed in a way that brought memories flooding back to both of them.

"Raziel" she said- she said his name slowly, enjoying the feeling of it "where will we go?"  
Raziel glanced over his shoulder as if indicating an imaginary direction,

"To Nosgoth again, I've answers yet to find but I would much rather seek them with you by my side". His gaze returned to her, tracing along the new curves of her body, down her back. She lifted her head into the sunshine and smiled. "I can't wait to see Nosgoth again" Rhapsody spun on one foot lightly, turning to face him "Is that strange, do you think?"

A look of surprise had crossed Raziel's face and he did not reply to her, his eyes wide. Rhapsody leaned towards him in confusion.  
"Raziel?"

"Rhapsody" he said, quietly and an odd sort of warmth began to rush into him.

There had been blood on her gown from when they had made love.

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_Back to Nosgoth in the next chapter for some Defiance-esque fun with some twists, again, from Rhapsody's P.O.V.. Please leave a review and let me know what you thought of this and any ideas for the future of this story are always welcomed. :)_

Thanks everyone x  



	16. Chapter 14: New World

_Just look at me updating with all this length and enthusiam. I'm so proud of myself! Initially there was going to be much more to this chapter but I thought it would have made it drag on far too much. After all, I don't want to wind up just reciting the storyline of Defiance- this is about developing Rhapsody and Raziel's relationship and as the story moves on, raising a few philosophical points._

As always, thank you for reading and please leave a review to let me know how you think it's coming along.

Disclaimer: Raziel is the property of Eidos or Crystal Dynamic or whoever has the rights to the Legacy of Kain series right now. The same goes for Nosgoth (much as I believe that it should belong equally as much to the fans). Rhapsody is mine. I don't know how I'd write without her.

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**Chapter 14: New World**

I watched as Raziel's expression changed from that of shock to a smile and he chuckled thoughtfully and stepped forward to embrace me. His skin was smoother than any human's could be and cool, like the autumn air around us. In his arms I leaned my head into his shoulder and touched his back gently with my fingertips, still as defined as I'd last remembered. His hair still had the same liquid quality to it when it brushed against my face.

Yes, I remembered. I don't know how I could have thought that I could ever have imagined this. Every contour of his body, every slight change in the texture of his skin; the way he'd widen his eyes just a little in surprise or narrow them when he suspected somebody not to be entirely trust worthy, the hand (claw?) gestures that would illustrate his words perfectly and his voice...nobody could have imagined that voice. He was beyond human imagination and yes, I remembered.

I pressed my face closer into Raziel's bare shoulder and relaxed my body a little as he brought one claw to the back of my head, running the sharp tips through my hair. Somehow now he seemed less vengeful, more tired, less angry. His claw slipped to my waist, resting on my hips and looking up into his eyes, I found that they had a familiar pale glow to them. I made a small confused noise.

"Your eyes?" I asked. Raziel nodded slightly, arms still wrapped around me.

"Yes. I was wondering when you would notice. Though I now have my old body" he lifted my chin with one claw-tip and kissed me on the lips with his usual lightness "which I am incredibly grateful for, I still retain the soul of a wraith which has complications of sorts. I can utilise blood for temporary sustanance but my soul will always be that of a... reaver of souls"

I tapped him on the chest with my fingertips, thinking.

"But last time I saw you..." I felt my eyebrows draw together in confusion. It had been years, countless years in fact, but I didn't remember any need for souls after his restoration.

"The change took some time but gradually, it surfaced once more. Regardless of my body, I will always be a wraith, Rhapsody"

"Oh"

"Does that bother you?" asked Raziel, seriously.

"Oh... no. No, it doesn't" I would have asked if it should but common sense told me that it wouldn't be wise for one reason or another "Only..." I paused and stepped back, taking a seat on the grass. Raziel followed suit. "does this mean that you require both souls and blood or..."

"While blood will still provide temporary sustenance, it is the consumption of souls that defines me as what I am"

I leant back into the grass, memories of simpler times ebbing up from the streams of my subconscious in response to the feel of fresh grass on my skin. Somewhere nearby, Raziel had risen to his feet and was moving about, cutting into the earth with the tip of the Reaver blade which had once again made its presence known. It hummed quietly in contentment, slicing effortlessly through grass and earth with disconcerting cleanness. The circle shaped patterns that Raziel drew on the ground, using the sword like a great painbrush, grew and spread across the moor a good several metres in each direction. Silently, I watched in fascination. Had I not suspected that it would distract him and possibly jeopardise whatever he was doing, I would have made some effort to pester him about the nature of the geometric shapes which he was drawing with such enthusiasm. For a moment he paused and dug one hoof-like foot into the ground making a 'hmmmm'ing noise in his chest and regarded the design. The Reaver faded out of existence again and he beckoned to me. I rolled over partially on the grass and clambered to my feet, wiping any extra foliage from my gown. I didn't like to think how well I'd fare in Nosgoth shoe-less and in only a flimsy hospital gown. As far as I remembered it was the sort of place where pointy things were regularly left lying on the ground.

"This should transport us to the point in Nosgoth where I was last" he mused quietly then faced me fully "Do you still remember how to fight?"

I inhaled tentatively and said;

"Theoretically" I touched my diminished bicep tenderly, for the first time aware that I was far less physically able than I had been on my last visit. I hadn't trained in the years since Raziel's departure and in this dress, I wouldn't have liked my chances even if I had. "I might need something better to wear, mind you"

"That won't be a problem" I tilted my head to the side, confused. Women's clothes in Nosgoth? There was the Citadel but still... "Trust me" he said, laying a claw on my shoulder and at the same time directing me into the centre of the great pattern. Raziel began to speak quietly under his breath in accented words which I did not recognise. Gradually a light came upon us, pulsating and a feeling of intense vertigo caused me to drop to my knees.

-

When I had swallowed a few times to calm the nausea I opened my eyes and stood in the woody clearing, Raziel close by my side and apparently far less affected. I was sure I used to be more durable than this. My vision blurred momentarily as I stood, vertigo threatening again and I attempted to make sense of my surroundings. The words 'woodland' and 'Nosgoth' weren't sitting comfortably together in my mind.

"This is Nosgoth?" I asked, confused and cast glances about me. The trees were dotted across the better part of the landscape, their canopies overshadowing the paths that ran between them and the barely-standing stone structures. The place would easily have passed for a glorified graveyard and being Nosgoth, I wouldn't have been surprised if it was. Camoflagued under some bracken I noticed now a number of strategically placed corpses. It wouldn't be a problem finding clothes? Two of the corpses appeared to be female and of a similar size to my own. Disdainfully I looked from them to Raziel and back.

"Personally I think you'd suit the colours" he smiled, apparently desensitised (rather than oblivious) to the disrespectful nature of his suggestion. He tugged one of the corpses out of the undergrowth and gestured helpfully to it.

"Do you know how disturbing it is to have to undress a dead woman?" I attempted to tug off the leather strapping which bound the chest-covering to the corpse. Since this reply earned no answer from Raziel who stood, arms folded, observing I tried again "There is blood on this one, right here!"

Having freed the chest plate I gestured meaningfully to the shirt beneath which was torn near the abdomen. Despite the blood-red colour of the fabric, thetg brownish stains near the tear showed up conspicuously. Still, truth be told, there was surprisingly little blood. I put it down the Reaver's ability to cauterise what wounds it caused.

The clothes successfully removed, I positioned the body with its hands folded over its chest and muttered a quiet thanks as I laid my slightly stained gown as a covering over it. Raziel noted my actions silently and though I expected him to pass comment he remained silent and turned to gaze thoughtfully into the distance whilst I began the fairly complicated process of donning the clothes of a vampire hunter. In a word before velcro there were enough leather straps and buckles to grant an S&M fetishist's ever wish. Save for some of the less practical pieces of armour (mainly showy, pointy metal parts) the outfit sufficed. It evidently assumed a wearer in a more athletic state than my current one but nonetheless if I wasn't to have a change of clothes for this trip (and I suspected that I wasn't) then this would tick all the proverbial boxes and leave a little room for development. Suppressing a recurring feeling of nausea which I put down to a mixture of the journey and the fact that I was now wearing a dead woman's blood stained clothes, I picked up a blade which I assumed had belonged to another one of the hunters and attatched it at my hip.

Once I'd have looked far more at home in this attire. Now the armour felt heavy on my shoulders and I was aware of the blade rubbing uncomfortably against my thigh. I tested the handle in my palm and finding the feeling unfamiliar, I sighed.

-

While Raziel and I navigated our way through the apparently abandoned graveyard he recounted the remainder of his story to me. The pillars gleamed against the horizon, a great beam of white against the weak brown of the sky.

-

"Raziel... can we stop again?" my feet ached in the ill fitting boots and after a considerable amount of running, clambering, jumping and attempting to detatch aggressive revenants through kicking in a haphazard manner, blisters had formed in abundance. I hadn't realised that in the time I'd spent sitting around in that room how soft I'd become. Raziel, having neither skin nor human feet which could blister was proving unsurprisingly unsympathetic. My passion for seeing Nosgoth again while not disappearing seemed to have subsided slightly with the realisation of how much excercise my unwilling body was going to be put through. "If I have to see another forge I'll... " I trailed off, irritated.

Raziel walked a little ahead of me and extended the Reaver in one hand, watching it shift between light and dark.

"Believe me, the feeling is mutual" he placed the Reaver into one of the glowing orbs by the door. It took on a dark 'glow' if such a thing were possible and absorbed light for a distance around itself. "There does seem a lack of things to do around here that don't involve ridiculous amounts of climbing and puzzle solving"

"I don't know, I always liked the puzzle solving. It's just theconstant clambering over derelict forges that's bothering me"

Raziel looked at me inquisitively, remembering the 'game' I'd attempted to explain when he'd first visited my world.

"You've yet to explain this concept" he told me, easing the door open and gesturing me through. I limped past gratefully. "I recall that you had a device of sorts that allowed access to Nosgoth. What sort of magic was it that you could access it once but could not return?"

"A fickle sort. It isn't like a portal after all. It wasn't designed to work like one and I don't know why it did. More like..." I groped for the word "a scrying pool, but on a screen. Yeah, a vertical scrying pool. Think of it this way- there are infinite possibilities and so, infinite possible realities" Raziel looked momentarily thoughtful then nodded "Anything you could ever imagine exists somewhere in the infinite and in my world we've ways of seeing a select few of these... "

"Imagination is a powerful thing" Raziel paused "You mean to say that there are infinite realities?"

"Yes. No. Well, yes I suppose. That's the theory anyway"

"So, theoretically speaking" he said slowly, beginning to come to terms with the idea, and far more quickly than I had when I had first been introduced to it "there is a ...world where my vampire brethren and I would have ruled with Kain until we drove Nosgoth to complete destruction?"

"Mmhm" I nodded "I guess"

"And another where I would have destroyed Kain at the Chronoplast... And what would I have gained then?" he turned and faced me with an expression of genuine distress and then spoke in quiet, meaningful tones "Do you mean to tell me that in some alternate _reality_" he stressed the word 'reality' "that I could have triumphed in what I initially sought to do and would have unwittingly trapped myself in that dying world to live out Nosgoth's fate along with it?"

A moment of silence followed in which the path around us seemed to grow quiet, the only sound being Raziel's agitated breathing and footfalls as he moved off down the path, offering me his left arm to lean on.

"Plenty of awful things exist. Of course they do. But who's to say that an equal number of pleasant things aren't out there too?"

I patted him on his bicep, just below the hem of his cowl and where the fraying bandages ended and he made a small 'hmm'ing noise.

"I can't say that I find the idea of having infinite alternate realities in which I suffer in an infinite variety of ways is an idea that I find altogether comforting" he said at last. I sighed in a purposely melodramatic manner. This whole scenario had an incredible sense of familiarity to it.

"Ever the pessemist, Raziel. There are also an infinite numbers of worlds in which you're perfectly content. Happy, even?" I found myself turning it into a question, much as I expected no answer. In the short moment since our return to Nosgoth I had been reminded of the strength of Raziel's resolve. Once he had set out to accomplish something he was not one to give up easily. Granted, I was not at this point completely sure what it was he intended to do but he seemed as determined (as was to be expected) and strode along at a pace which caused my limping to look rather like a half hearted skip.

The Reaver was once again present in his right hand though there were no threatening shapes to be seen lurking. It hummed contentedly, glowing its usual blue. Raziel cast a glance at it and narrowed his eyes.

"Perhaps, Rhapsody, perhaps"

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_Thank you for reading again.:) Please leave a review. The next chapter ought to have an appearance from Ariel as well as a few of those Ancient Guardians in the forges. _

_Reviews and encouragement are always appreciated and occassionally bribed for. :)_

_x  
_


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